Fullmetal Innocence
by FullmetalAlchemistWriter
Summary: The Elric brothers thought their life lessons were over- but life doesn't stop when tragedy strikes, and this lesson may be tougher than the last for Edward Elric.
1. That Fateful Morning

**Hi all! Just a warning, this story does mention some sensitive content pertaining to rape and sexual violence. These can be triggers so please do _not_ read this story if you feel uncomfortable with the things I listed. Thank you**

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Roy Mustang was a man of tactfulness and precision, so it was no surprise for him to arrive in his office at exactly 6:00 sharp that fateful October morning. It was, to his dismay, a surprise to find that his own staff was not present.

He sat at his old dark oak desk and glared at the pile of paper work that the Elric brothers had so kindly left the day before. Roy could count on seeing the two brats later in the day to explain the scribblings that Ed had quickly jotted down without any thought on his less than organized report of the last several missions.

A low grumble came from his throat as the silence of his office made its uncomfortable lack of commotion known. "Where the hell is everyone?" He said to himself.

Sure, the others were unreliable when it came to being on time but Hawkeye too? Suddenly Roy became very nervous as his mind began to track into worse case scenarios, while being a dog of the military had its benefits there were always constant threats made towards every commanding officer. Danger was something each officer had to face daily and the paranoia often trumped the reality of getting hurt by outside forces. Mustang shook his head, he had the best of the best subordinates, they could take care of themselves better than even he could.

As he looked out the dusty window of his office Mustang sighed, "I don't know why I question these moments of peace." It was then that the tranquil peace was broken with an all too familiar ring, Mustang picked up the phone with hesitation as the air shifted into the unsettling silence again.

"Colonel Mustang sir." A shaky voice called out in respect.

"Second Lieutenant Havoc..." A hesitant Roy stated as he didn't quite understand what was happening, Havoc had never sounded so scared before.

"We need you down here as quickly as possible sir…there's been an incident. We are in the alley way on fourth street."

"I will be there as soon as possible." Not even bothering to wait for a response Mustang hung up the phone and scrambled to get his jacket on. As he drove down the cobblestone street his mind raced, his stomach doing a flip as he saw the rare sight of the military ambulance near a closed off street.

Hughes greeted him as he opened the car door, it didn't take long for Roy to notice the weight that Maes eyes carried.

"Hughes…what happened?" He had known the man in front of him for so long, he knew what looks belonged to what scenarios and Hughes eyes had an edge that matched that of their Ishvalan war days.

"One of your subordinates has been…"

Mustangs blood went cold in that instant, someone was murdered…who was it? Fuery, Falman, Bred-

"raped"

"W-what?" Riza Hawkeye. "No…Hawkeye…"

Maes tried his best to be a physical support as the flame alchemist found himself falling back against his own car, eyes wide and unbelieving. He soon fell out of shock and snapped into rage, "Who the hell did this?! What happened?"

"Roy- please just follow me, there's no easy way to explain this." As he all but let Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes guide him Mustangs perception of the situation was destroyed as he rounded the corner of the alley way.

It was then that the situation somehow became worse as a hysterical Edward Elric was being strapped to a hospital stretcher as Al tried desperately to draw a transmutation circle in a likely attempt to free his brother from his current situation. Roy's entire squadron was doing their damndest to keep him from completing it, Roy didn't give himself time to think as he willed his shaky legs forward.

Snapping to create a small but noticeable flame Roy Mustang swallowed his anguish and shouted with every will of his body, "Alphonse Eric!" His voice rang throughout the alley way as it caught everyone's attention.

No further words were needed at the shout, Al broke down at the sudden outburst letting his armored arms fall to the side as he fell back on the ground. Ed's cries were the only thing that could be heard as the ambulance doors slammed shut.

October 13th 1914 was a day that would mark the continuing horrors of both Edward and Alphonse Elric's lives.

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 **Apologies for the short chapter, I am hoping to post the second soon. Any comment or criticisms are always welcome!**


	2. That Fateful Night

**I usually never upload a chapter this quickly but since the first one was so small I decided to go ahead and post this one up!** ** _Trigger Warning: Mentions of rape and violence._**

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It was a chilly night, the breeze caught Edward Elric's golden bangs as leaves littered the street he was currently limping down. Each step brought a whole new agony as he did his best to keep his gasps of pain to a minimum, it was supposed to be a simple stroll to headquarters to drop off his late but lengthy paper work. He and Al were only supposed to stay in central for three days then be on their way to the next lead of the philosopher stone, that _was_ the plan. But even he, the famed Fullmetal Alchemist, could not control everything.

Ed leaned against the brick wall of the alley way as he looked up to glare at a beautiful full moon. It was about seven hours ago that Ed told his little brother that he would just run to the colonel bastards office and that he would be right back. Although he had managed to get to Mustangs office and avoid the annoyance of having to talk to him completely Ed was in such a rush that his senses did not catch a strange presence following him. It was when he was only five minutes from centrals best inn that he finally noticed he was being followed.

Not wanting to lead this potentially dangerous stranger to where he and his brother were currently staying Ed stopped and turned sharply only to look up to a sinister looking man staring down at him.

Ed felt a shiver run down his spine, something wasn't right here, this was not just a stranger that wanted to hurt him…something more evil was at play in this man's head.

"To what honor do I have in running into the Fullmetal Alchemist?" The man's voice rang throughout the dimly lit side street, he took a moment to slick back his already greasy hair. His smile made Ed sick as each tooth was as yellow as the man's fingernails and sickly skin. Ed smelled the faint scent of alcohol come from the man's breath that was nearing a little too close for comfort to his face.

Ed kept calm as he collected his words, "and just who are you?" A lame and non-threatening comeback but it would work for now, just to assess the situation.

A smirk in return, "you can call me Sin."

That was the last thing Ed remembered before he woke up with only a dirty sheet covering him, his head pounded as his brain tried to access the pain he felt. He could barely see anything, his senses were overwhelmed with the moldy smell that was close to choking him.

As he gathered what little sense he could out of his current situation Ed grew more and more frantic by the second, he knew he needed to get away- quick. As he moved though he found this task to be near impossible. A scream erupted from his throat as he sat up but was cut short by a cough from nearby, he looked over and saw the same evil man lying on the floor twisted up in a comforter. **_I have to be quiet._**

Ed shut his tear stricken eyes and focused on the task at hand, but despite his desperate attempts to get up and get the hell out of the wretched place that would forever be ingrained in his mind Ed found this task to be more difficult than expected. He had been hurt before, he had been shot, cut, nearly dead even! Ed knew better though, he knew that this wasn't normal pain that you got from a fight. This was sick and twisted and wrong, this wasn't ever supposed to happen to anyone.

Taking a breath, he fought past the pain that held his sanity and most of his psychical functioning hostage and quickly slipped his clothes and shoes on, he found that he could not locate his prized pocket watch but that object suddenly took the lowest priority as Ed heard the man waking. Without any second thought about anything else that was left behind Ed fled the room, thankfully the exit was not far. He was surprised to find that as soon as he opened what looked like the exit door was a ladder. **_Where the hell am I?_** With each step up came a whole new wave of agony, it wasn't that Ed couldn't take the pain, it was where the pain was resonating.

 ** _It isn't right, this isn't right._**

Ed pushed past the thoughts as he finally reached the top of the ladder and lifted the heavy metal door up, they had been in a storm shelter but somehow it was still in the middle of town. As he crawled out of the hole he looked up to see the Inn in which he and Al were staying, he looked back to the storm shelter to find that it was in fact the hotels emergency room in case of storms or any other unlikely event that took place occurred.

Ed shuttered, so he was free, everything was ok and he was ok- but no that wasn't right. None of that was right, it was still dark. If Ed had to guess it was nearing 5AM, too early for anyone to be up.

 ** _Where do I go?_**

It was obvious that Ed had injuries that could likely be fatal if he didn't get them treated soon, even though he hadn't remembered anything of the attack he had a pretty good idea that the bastard had beaten him up fairly well.

He couldn't breathe right, his metal arm was detached from its receptors, his head pounded in what he assumed was a concussion as he was dizzy as well, he had several deep gashes on his flesh arm and to top that all off came the burning pain in his legs and back and…everywhere. He would take near death any day over his current state.

 ** _Why didn't he just stop there, he could have just beaten me up and left me for dead. Why did he have to…do that? It was NOT right._**

With a shake of the head he banished those thoughts, **_I don't have time to think that._**

Ed, without any real knowledge of where he himself was going, knew that he had to get away from this place. If this man woke up and found him gone odds were that he would come after him. As much as he wanted to wake Al up and get on a train and just go and get the hell out of this place never to return, Ed knew that this had to be dealt with. With each step though, things got foggier and even more confusing than the stupor he woke up in. His eyes widened in realization, **_I've been drugged._**

Every sign was there and taking effect fast, ** _of course I'm drugged, damn, this guy is a little smarter then I gave him credit for…crap, I don't have long- I can barely move as it is an-_**

 _"_ Leaving so soon my Fullmetal Alchemist?"

Ed froze and looked back at the man wielding the scratchy voice, he looked even sloppier then before at this point.

"G-get away! I mean it!" He tried his damndest to keep the fear out of his tone but there was no way in hell he could ever do that. He was scared, he was powerless with his metal arm broken the way it was. He couldn't even reach over and clap his hands together, his ribs had been broken from the beating and Ed knew full and well that they could puncture vital organs if he wasn't careful. He didn't suspect they were all broken but there was no way in hell he would risk internal damage like that.

 ** _If I get too hurt then I really will have to go to the hospital and then everyone will know what happened…no one can know._** Taken aback by the thought Ed let his guard down one moment too late. Before he could even blink Sin had made his move, at what seemed like lightning speed he was behind Ed in an instant.

Grabbing the hood to his signature red jacket he pulled Ed back and let out a whisper, "did you think I would let you get away so easily? No one can save you and unless you want me to hurt you even more you are going to come with me."

It was then that Ed felt a gun pressed to his back, "you…you think I care about getting shot? I've come back from worse I assure you."

Even though he couldn't see the man's face Ed somehow knew he was smirking, this guy was not bluffing in the slightest and so with one swift movement Edward ripped his arms out of the sleeves of his thankfully oversized coat and, with teeth gritted, brought his hands together to form a massive wall between him and Sin.

To his dismay a red glow appeared in the middle of the wall and spread until the material Ed used was completely disintegrated. "A… philosopher stone? You're an alchemist?"

Sin smirked, "I dabble, the stone does all my bidding though, of course It's no real deal stone but it works wonders in situations like these…I just hate when my prey thinks it can get away."

"No…get away. Get away from me!" Ed knew it was in vain but he figured if he made a scene that was loud enough and easy to see then someone, anyone would come to his aid.

With another painful clap of hands Ed created a massive cannon even bigger than the one he had managed to create the day he battled against Roy Mustang. He didn't expect this guy to just get blasted, in fact Ed knew that as soon as he made the cannon Sin would likely destroy it just as fast but that was not what happened.

Ed sighed in what was almost relief as the cannon went off and he watched and heard as the man was hit, the relief turned into unfiltered fear as Ed saw the red glow once more. Sin had somehow made the material disappear before it could cause any real damage to himself.

"That was quite impressive Fullmetal Alchemist, I cannot tell you what an honor it is to see _every_ side of you."

Ed's blood ran cold at the statement, he knew this was a hopeless act, he knew that all this fighting was in vain and yet he couldn't bring himself to give up. This wasn't life or death though, if he gave up now he would once again be violated. If he had his pick then there was no doubt that he would just pick death over everything that took place in the past 24 hours. Aside from all that he was also losing blood from the reopening of the gashes that littered his arm, the blood was oozing away taking his vision and most of his senses with it.

 ** _No…it's going to happen again and that can't happen…it can't happen again. I won't let it happen again._**

Despite the blood loss, nearing unconsciousness and unimaginable pain Ed did the last thing he knew he was capable of. With a confident glare in his golden eyes and a final desperate clap of hands Ed put both palms on the road in front of him and focused on his transmutation, the street cracked and contorted into a single pillar that went up in the air for miles. Anyone that knew Ed and his alchemy would know exactly where he was.

 ** _The sound of the transmutation should have waken everyone in a two mile radius up at the least…I can only hope I was close enough to somebody that will care._**

With that Ed collapsed on the ground with no other ability to protect himself, completely vulnerable to the threat that was walking towards him.

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 _ **It is kind of weird to write Ed as being so fragile in this chapter and I promise I will stay true to his personality but given the episodes of his more intense situations such as Laboratory 5 (FMA or FMA Brotherhood) or his encounter with Barry the Butcher (FMA) I figured that the personality he has in this chapter does fit his distressed tone. However! Any criticism is welcome as well as comments, I'm hoping to post chapters on a weekly basis but we will see how that goes.**_


	3. Finding Ed

**Apologies for the late update here but nonetheless, I hope you enjoy! :3**

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To say Al was worried sick would be such an understatement- in fact it would be insulting. Why he let his less than responsible brother go out in the night alone to do even a simple job was a mystery to him. He always had full faith that his brother could defend himself in any situation and he didn't doubt his skills in the slightest. Al understood that Ed had common sense and at least a little fear in him to know when he could or couldn't handle a situation.

All of that aside though, the two were in central, a place where the homunculi had been sneaking around and causing chaos. It wasn't a good idea for anyone to be walking the street of Central alone anymore, especially state alchemist.

"Brother…where are you?"

With about three hours of trudging around the city later Al was fed up, he had to find his brother. It was 1AM at this point and he severely hoped that Ed had good explanation for staying out and scaring him like this.

Releasing what sounded like an exasperated sigh Alphonse calmed his thoughts before they lead to any more anger, whatever Ed had gotten into was probably nothing he couldn't handle. All Al had to do was find him and give him the usual brotherly lecture that seemed to be given every day and the two would be on their way to the next major event.

Two more hours into the search though Al began to think that this wasn't just a simple search and lecture mission anymore. He had nearly searched the entire city in which he knew of, he had stopped in the Inns lobby on the way down and made sure that his brother hadn't been seen since he left. He had looked in every alley way and street corner he could think of, he had even looked in all of centrals libraries but to no avail. As Al weighed his options he hit himself in the head, he hadn't looked in the very place his brother had gone! Colonel Roy Mustangs headquarters, "Brother when I find you…" Al grumbled.

As he made his way into headquarters he sighed, of course no one was going to be there at what was now nearing 4AM. As Al turned to walk out in defeat a familiar voice meet his senses. "Al…what are you doing here?"

"Fuery! What are _you_ doing here?"

With a nervous smile Fuery sheepishly replied, "Ah, well I had to catch up on a lot of paper work, the Colonel will kill me if I don't have this on his desk by the time he gets here! But uh…what brings you here though? And…where is your brother?"

"Well that's kind of what I was going to ask you…my brother came here to drop some paper work off."

"Yea! He was here, but that was hours ago. You mean you haven't seen him at all since then?" Al shook more as Fuery's voice grew concerned.

"I shouldn't have let him come here alone…it was only a few blocks but I didn't think of the danger and-"

Fuery put a hand on Al's cold metal arm, his reassuring smile bringing Al to his senses. "Hey! Its ok, lieutenant Hawkeye is going to be here any minute, she can help us sort this out."

"Sort what out?" A stern feminine voice demanded.

"Second lieutenant Hawkeye!" Fuery called out with a brief salute, "Ed is missing."

Hawkeye raised her eyebrow, "Alphonse?"

"y-yes ma'am, I thought he had just wondered off to study for a while at first but that's been hours ago. I really do think that my brother is in trouble."

The blonde headed woman nodded in understanding, "Right, then we need to assemble a small search party and find him." As Hawkeye made her way to the phone and began to call Breda, Falman and Havoc in haste, Fuery spoke up in concern. "Ma'am…what about the Colonel?"

She sighed, "for now let's let him rest, he was here late last night. If anything happens that is too severe for our search party to handle or that needs to be reported, we will call him."

Fuery nodded in full approval, slight bags under his eyes as he felt sleep calling for him. Had he known that an early morning rescue mission were to take place he would have forfeited the paperwork idea long ago.

Amidst his sleep deprived thinking Hawkeyes voice finally broke through, "understood Fuery?"

"Huh? Oh! Yes ma'am!"

The blonde-haired woman narrowed her eyes in slight disbelief, "are sure you understand the plan?"

Fuery slumped his shoulders as he solemnly shook his head in misguided embarrassment, "sorry lieutenant."

Keeping a well-placed sigh in replacement of the small smirk she gained from Fuerys over dramatic show, "you are to stay here as a report beacon and in any case of emergency you will be the one who seeks out further troops or care, understood?"

Fuery saluted happily as he realized that the blonde-haired woman was granting a pity job on him in his less than able state at the moment. "yes ma'am!"

It didn't take long for the rest of the team to show up as the office double doors opened.

Havoc stretched his arms and let out a rather loud yawn in response to opening the doors, as he slowly took out a cigarette and tucked the unlit paper strip of tobacco between his lips he sighed, "so what's this all about? It's hours before we are supposed to come in." As a stale silence hit the air in response Havoc stopped mid-stretch and narrowed his eyes at Hawkeye herself, "did something happen to the Colonel?"

Letting out a sigh a nearby Breda took a seat in his designated office chair, "you know that wouldn't surprise me, ever since our transfer here he has somehow been centered in all this chaos." Frowning a bit Breda took a good look at the crowd around him in that moment. "But that's not who is in trouble… where's Ed?"

A small, pained sound came from the hallowed suit of armor as Alphonse stood already in a burdening guilt, "I agreed to let brother walk here last night around ten o' clock or so…I have not seen him since."

Falman took that opportunity to speak up, "so you're thinking he was kidnapped?"

Alphonse nodded, "something like that at least, I know brother can hold his own and I know he gets side tracked but he has never been away from me for this long. I know something is wrong."

"Which is why I asked you all here." Riza concluded, "I have not informed Colonel Mustang due to his persistent need to stay up late, if any of you deem it necessary to call him or any help at any time we will inform Fuery and he will make the calls, understood?"

Everyone nodded in response, a grim look now evident on everyone's features.

A small scuff of a chair in the background caused the whole group to quickly snap their attention to the other side of the office as Hughes walked towards them, a small smile masking the overall uneasiness he felt over the whole situation. "Roy is not going to be happy about that call- which is why I am tagging along!"

Much to his dismay the whole group of people in the room, except Alphonse, stood straight with a salute at his presence.

Hughes held his hands up, "no need for all of that! As far as I am concerned we are off duty so our ranks don't matter." With a small meaningful stare in Al's direction he sighed, "I am more concerned about Fullmetal right now. You say he left hours ago- and that he wouldn't have just gone off somewhere to study or anything, right?"

Alphonse nodded, "he would have told me if he was going to do that, brother knows better than to disappear on purpose and not report back."

Maes nodded, a thought provoking look strewn on his face.

Hawkeye took that notion to take a bit of charge, "If we split up we can take three parts of the city that are closest in radius to HQ. If Edward were to be kidnapped or even accidentally get caught up in something it would have to be closer to his original designated location. Which reminds me…were the two of you staying in the military living spaces?"

Alphonse shook his head, "brother wanted to stay at the local inn instead."

Falman rubbed the back of his head in confusion, "jeez, that place is pretty pricey, the military rooms here are completely free."

Havoc laughed in response, "if it has anything to do with being closer to HQ then I doubt Ed would want to get anywhere close- even if it is a lot more expensive to be further away."

With a small chuckle Hughes proceeded to walk out of the office as the rest of the group followed suite, the clanking of Al's metal set the beat of everyone's footsteps as they made their way down the hall and out into the brisk air of fall.

As the group started to fan out into smaller units the metallic footsteps stopped in sudden shock, "wait! Did you hear that?"

The whole group stopped everything and listened, silence met their ears but soon another sense granted them explanation as a large pillar appeared.

"That's brother!" Without any further communication, Alphonse ran as fast as he could towards the nearby sight of the pillar. Using his convenient ability to not feel physical exertion he ran as fast as the hollowed-out metal would allow leaving the rest of the newly formed search party behind.

Hughes jumped in his issued military car, "let's go." The small car was soon piled into as everyone struggled to close the doors beside them. Havoc sighed as Breda all but sat on him, "good thing I'm not claustrophobic!" The still unlit cigarette in his mouth barely intact.

Hughes stomped on the gas pedal of the car, willing it to go faster than he had ever driven it, he knew something was wrong. For Edward Elric to send out a cry for help with a desperate use of alchemy- it wasn't right nor was it even close to normal. He knew he needed to get there either before Al or right when Al arrived.

It didn't take long for the car to come to a complete halt as the pillar came into view not wanting to draw too much attention, Hughes parked the car a few feet away from the blind corner of the street.

All five of the military officers slowly emerged from the car and made their way to the corner of the street, Hawkeye peered around the corner holding her hand up to give proper signal to the other officers beside her. Their act of silence seemed wasted as the piercing sound of Alphonse's armor seemed to reach through the dark cold air and slap the shock off each of their faces.

Forgetting the hand signals Hawkeye jumped from the shadows of the corner and held her hand gun steadily towards the gruff man that was by now holding an unconscious and injured Edward Elric, Hughes stopped the other officers from doing the same as he sensed a strange change in the air. "Just stay here until she shoots, something is wrong with this guy." A nod from the other officers supplied Hughes the courage to jump from behind the protected corner as well.

As soon as Hughes caught sight of the man in front of them his blood ran cold, this was no ordinary person. "It's Sin…"

Hawkeye's eyes grew wide and cautious as her vision focused more on the mans' facial features. "Alphonse! Stay back, this man is dangerous." Her unnaturally shaken voice betraying her as she called out in a pathetic attempt to keep the emotionally distraught Alphonse to stay put.

The warning fell upon the armor but made no impact as the soul within the hollowed shell boiled, "my brother…you hurt him and he's not even conscious! You have truly messed with the wrong people, you will pay!"

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 **So nothing too major in this chapter- although I do promise a lot more for the next as the disturbing character of Sin unfolds!**


	4. Chaos

**_Trigger warning: Mentions of rape, violence and slightly more cussing._**

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Previously...

 _As soon as Hughes caught sight of the man in front of them his blood ran cold, this was no ordinary person. "It's Sin…"_

 _Hawkeye's eyes grew wide and cautious as her vision focused more on the mans' facial features. "Alphonse! Stay back, this man is dangerous." Her unnaturally shaken voice betraying her as she called out in a pathetic attempt to keep the emotionally distraught Alphonse to stay put._

 _The warning fell upon the armor but made no impact as the soul within the hollowed shell boiled, "my brother…you hurt him and he's not even conscious! You have truly messed with the wrong people, you will pay!"_

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"Alphonse no! Damnit…"Hughes glared at the worrying scene taking place in front of him, then, swiftly glancing at the woman standing next to him, he whispered, "Lieutenant Hawkeye-"

"I'm on it."

"Ahh the Fullmetal Alchemists brother I presume? He has cried out for you, you know. He truly thought you were going to come to his rescue long ago- but I'm afraid to say you are far too late to save him now."

"Shut up!" Putting a shaking hand on the transmutation circle directly in front of him Alphonse soon had the evil man incased in a hallowed stone circle. To his dismay the middle of the small prison started to glow a dark red until the material had finally disintegrated.

"A philosopher's stone?" With both fists clenched at his sides Alphonse chuckled darkly, "figures, I knew brother wouldn't have made this pillar for nothing after all. You are too weak to even use your own alchemy- having to depend on a stone to do it for you."

"Careful with your words Alphonse Elric, you don't really know who I am after all." The smug man frowned as Al positioned himself for another attack.

"Let my brother go, I will not give you anymore warnings or chances."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, like I said, you are too late and he is mine now."

Hughes grit his teeth as the man finished, "you bastard, for your sake I hope you are lying."

Turning quickly Sin smiled at the familiar officer that was currently holding him at gun point. "Maes Hughes? My, the years have done you well old friend."

Hughes narrowed his eyes, "shut the hell up and give us Fullmetal, if you put him down now I might give you a swift death."

"Come now Mae's, let's not make empty threats here."

Upon hearing a frustrated growl Sin smiled as he looked down at the still unconscious boy in his arms, carefully brushing a stray strand of gold hair from the child's face. "He truly is a remarkable boy, my Fullmetal Alchemist."

Hughes felt sick, all he wanted to do was separate the two people in front of him and get Fullmetal out of this situation. "Don't you dare touch him! Focus on me Sin, or you will be sorry."

Sin smirked in response, "Is that so?"

It was in that moment a shot was fired, Sin easily dodged the bullet that was otherwise headed straight for his shoulder. Glancing at the nearest building ledge he smiled, "little Hawkeye herself is here too, eh? No need to hide up there though-" Raising a hand Sin easily shifted the ledges materials under Hawkeyes feet, sending her falling several stories only to be caught by a quickly transmuted stone hand no thanks to Alphonse.

"That's enough Sin, I'm your enemy right now- not them." Al tried to keep the shaking of his metal body to a minimum but it was no use, too many emotions swarmed through his soul. He hated seeing his brother so vulnerable and hurt- even worse though, he hated seeing him in the evil man's arms holding him as if he were his own child.

"Very well Alphonse, let's just see if you have what it takes to earn your brother back, hm?" Sin smirked, however the man's jovial facial expression melted as the child in his arms stirred.

"N-no…don't fight! Stop!" Golden eyes sleepily opened only to find the reality in which he could only moments ago listen to, upon meeting Sins stare Edward fought to get free. Pain wracked his body as Sin tightened his arms around him.

"Alphonse!" Edward chocked out, tears now evident in his shimmering eyes. He swallowed his annoying fear, narrowing his eyes he called out, "Don't fight! He- he's messed up but he won't kill me! He just-"

"Ah come now my child, no need to give away all my secrets, let's have a little chat before I _let_ you visit."

At that moment, to everyone's horror, the ground below Sin quickly gave way allowing him to sink into the sewer systems below. Ed fought harder as he heard Alphonse call his name out in pure angst.

Dropping the boy Sin transmuted a single band of rock around Ed's torso and arms to the nearest wall, "now my sweet Fullmetal here's the deal, you will not utter a single word about what I have said or done to you. Oh- and for my sake and your own do not stray too far. I will find you, I promise, I am not done with you and do not intend to be until I get my way. Fortunately you can determine whether this will be an easy going case or not depending on what you tell your friends up there, understood?"

Edward tried to back away in horror as the man closed in on him, Sins face now only centimeters away from his own. He wanted to ask why, he wanted to ask what else this man could possibly want from him but the words were lost long before his brain could even fathom the possibility of making it verbal. Edward Elric was terrified for his life and all he wanted at this point was the presence of his little brother- not some creep with an apparent death wish.

Sin smirked at the terrified reaction of the emotionally destroyed boy in front of him, "until next time, Edward Elric."

With that one phrase Ed was released from the wall and, almost instantly, found himself laying on the road exactly where Sin had originally been standing. He looked up to see his younger brother hovering over him, a faint sound of his voice could be heard but Ed could not for the life of himself piece together the sounds.

"Brother? Do you hear me?!"

Hughes grimaced as he and the other officers neared the hysterical Alphonse trying his damndest to make a stunned Ed speak. His concern peaked as the group brought Ed over to the nearest brick wall to lean him against, Ed would not mutter a single word.

Hawkeye tore her beyond worried gaze away from the young boy as she set her mind to the general task at hand. "Havoc, get to the nearest phone booth and call the paramedics…then call Colonel Mustang…we don't have time to report to Fuery."

With a slight nod the shaken solider dropped his cigarette and ran around the corner in desperate search of a phone booth, his sense of direction now heightened as the morning sun dimmed the foggy lights of Central.

As Havoc fled Hawkeye, Breda and Falman stayed a safe distance away from the three others grouped against the alley wall. As much as they wanted to know and understand the full situation they also knew that with all the hysterics of the two younger boys it would not help to crowd.

Hawkeye sighed as she glanced over at the dull eyes of Edward Elric, "Sin…I haven't heard that name since the Ishvalan war."

Breda tilted his head a bit, "that name somehow doesn't ring a bell…"

Falman hummed as he thought, "I can't say I remember that name either."

The two men looked at each other in confused concern as the blonde- haired woman that stood before them crossed her arms, attempting to provide herself some sort of personal comfort as she looked up at them.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye? Are you-"

"Sin was a state alchemist in the war…but he was not in it for the fighting or protecting of our country- nor even for the fun of killing like Kimblee…Sins motives were even more sinister."

Upon receiving only silence Hawkeye continued, "As all the state alchemist were fighting off the local citizens they couldn't help but notice a certain population decreasing from the crowd they were going against. Children…all around the ages of twelve to fifteen- male or female, they were just gone. It was not until Colonel Mustang himself stumbled upon the incident that the sickening acts stopped.

All soldiers were on complete understanding that Sin was fighting on the outskirts of the Ishvalan territory but that is not what happened, he had been gathering this certain age range of children and…he had been raping them then murdering them. Colonel Mustang had managed to hear the scream of a young boy as he was investigating a home invasion but…he found Sin and the boy instead.

It took every ounce of him not to burn Sin to a crisp that day, he had turned him in to the government but we never heard a word about him again. It had been like he had just disappeared from the war all together. We had assumed he had gotten executed as the Fuhrer was furious the day Colonel Mustang turned Sin in…but apparently not."

Breda and Falman both looked at the mute boy across the alley way in unimaginable fear and anger, "so…you think that he-"

Hawkeye cut the shaking Breda off in haste not wanting to think about it herself, "I don't know…not yet. However, I do know that no matter what we have to catch this man."

* * *

Deciding that Alphonse's methods of hysterics were not working Hughes put a hand on the shaking armored shoulder, "Alphonse, would it be ok if I tried to talk to him?" He asked in a gentle tone. If there was anything that Maes Hughes had learned about these boys in the short time he had known them it was that they were inseparable- especially when tragedy struck.

Although the armor only gave off a faint glow in replacement of eyes for Alphonse, Hughes knew in that moment those glowing red orbs staring back at him help such tremendous pain. "Y-yes..you can."

Nodding Hughes then took a knee, his emerald eyes piercing into the dulled golden ones that would only stare straight ahead. "Ed…please look at me, you are hurt really bad and the paramedics will be here soon but it might help them if you can tell your exact injuries."

That got an unexpected reaction, Ed scrambled to get up as his senses picked up on one word- paramedics. "No! No…I am fine. I promise. I am just a little confused, my head hurts and-"

"It might be a concussion brother you need to stay still!" Alphonse pleaded as he and Hughes closed in on the already cornered Edward and held him in place.

"I'm fine Alphonse! Damnit, just let me go back to the hotel, I can take care of myself there!"

Hughes took that moment to speak up not wanting the two to fight. "Edward, you and I both know that these injuries are too severe to be patched up. You have to go to the hospital, I promise you that I will get the most trusted doctors in that place, you will not have to worry about any danger." He knew Sin's past, about the rapes and murders of countless children, Ed's persistence to avoid the hospital only proved his theory right.

Ed looked at his broken auto mail arm hanging limply at his side, trying to figure out the quickest way he could just clap his hands together. It was futile as Hughes saw this attempt and sighed, "Ed, you can't run from this..." He was infuriated, here was this strong kid that had already been through hell and back and now this?

Ed shook his head hopelessly as he looked away from Hughes and up to his little brother, "Alphonse please get me out of here."

Al looked at his pleading brother, "Brother I can't…"

"Al…please! I-I just want to be with you!"

Alphonse's soul ached as his brother looked up at him with such a desperate and lost gaze, it resembled that of when he was stuck in the human transmutation creation they had unsuccessfully created for only a few seconds, Ed reaching towards him, his eyes drowning in terror and that gut wrenching scream- "N-no brother you have to get medical help, I will be right beside you, I promise."

Ed clenched his left hand, trying to draw strength back into his body. He knew he would inevitably have to go to the hospital, it had been a trivial fantasy to think otherwise honestly. Yet, Ed couldn't accept it, if they took him there they would undoubtedly find out what sick things had happened. He wouldn't be able to even look at his fellow comrades anymore without feeling horrible, not only that but how would he explain to his little brother that such a thing happened to him?

 ** _What if they don't believe me?_**

Ed's eyes grew at that realization, would they even believe him? Would they believe that he, the Fullmetal alchemist, tried to defend himself the best he possibly could and tried everything in his power to keep anything from happening? Or would they think that he somehow meant for this to happen-

Upon hearing an ambulance pull up Ed once again fought past Hughes and Al's arms to get up, "No…I'm not going and that's final!"

Ed tried to keep his hysterical emotions at bay but as the three paramedics started towards him he grew frantic, his nerves firing, willing him to get the hell away from this place no matter what. "NO!" Ed began coughing as he tried to jerk his flesh arm over enough to just connect his hands but to no avail.

As the coughing fit continued Ed became less trouble, he fell to his hands and knees coughing, blood started dripping from his mouth as the coughs grew more severe. Paramedics clothing flooded his ever-disappearing vision as tears swelled in the corners of his eyes. **_They are going to find out._**

As the coughing subsided and the paramedics had him held down to the stretcher Ed then sunk back into the reality of his actual situation as he heard his own sobbing between his raspy breathing, Al's desperate screams, the sound of fighting and yelling.

He could only cry now, it was all he had wanted to do the entire time and now that he couldn't run, fight or barely even breath, Edward Elric simply cried. He casted his eyes forward at the scene of Hawkeye, Breda, Havoc and even Falman trying to hold Al back from a transmutation circle he must have drawn.

"A-Al…" He sounded pathetic to his own ears but to anyone else it was not even a whisper that could be heard from the boy, he just wanted his brother.

"Brother! Let me go with him!" Al howled as the paramedics assured him that he could visit, "Sir! you cannot fit in the ambulance! Your brother needs medical attention immediately, if you could just meet us at the hospital-"

"I can't leave his side!" More fighting ensued as the paramedics rushed back to Ed's stretcher, concern and slight fear plagued their faces as they continued to wheel Ed towards the ambulance.

A wave of fear crashed down on him as he looked up at the two paramedics pushing him, one was a petite girl but the other was a guy. Taking no other observation of the middle-aged man Ed fought past the pain in his throat and ribs and let out a scream, it was broken but all the while desperate.

He tried anything he could as the third paramedic joined in trying to get the damned restraining straps around his body.

Irrational thoughts of further violation crossed his mind as he fought against the restraints with all the energy he had. **_No... not again! This will not happen again!_**

Chaos ruled over the crisp autumn air until an angry shout pierced through everyones thoughts.

 **"** _Alphonse Elric!"_

Ed watched in horror as Al's body gave in on itself and collapsed on its knees, **_Is Alphonse ok? Why isn't he moving?! … Are they with Sin? Is that Mustang- is Mustang with Sin? Are they…all with Sin?_**

"Alphonse!" Ed desperately called out, his flailing persisted even more as the ambulance doors slammed shut.

"We need to get him calmed down now, he is going to hurt himself even more at this point!" Called out the anxious petite woman nurse, to Ed's relief another woman answered across from her. She was also quite small, but seemed completely calm. Even in Ed's chaotic mind her stare seemed to soothe him,

"Edward- that's your name right?"

Feeling as he was almost in a dream Ed nodded in delirious stupor, his kicking and screaming ceased as he could have sworn the woman was his mother.

"You are going to be ok Edward, I can only promise that if you let us help you though. Will you let us help you?"

Ed's eyes glossed over as tears once again took the lead in the string of manic emotions cursing his senses. As he stared at the woman in tired fascination and amazement the other nurse took that opportunity to lightly sedate the already delirious boy. He didn't even look over as she carefully administered the needle and began to attempt to stop the major bleeding in his arm.

"…lost a lot of blood…delirious…immediate help…...surgery….."

Ed accepted the by now welcoming darkness as his conscious gave in on itself.

"…Brother…"

No worries.

"Please wake up…"

No sadness.

"….can't leave me….."

No fear.

"I need you."

Then again….no Alphonse.

Tired golden eyes opened as Ed tried to make sense of what his conscious just did, "Al.."

An unexpected gasp, "Brother!"

"Jeez…w-what a nightmare…" Ed coughed as he tried to sit up, instant pain ran across every nerve ending making him stop with a pained grunt.

"Brother…"

Ed's eyes widened in horror as he looked around him, all the pain and memories rushing back. Letting himself fall back into the bed Ed stared at the hospital ceiling above him in unfiltered hopelessness and confusion.

"No."

 **Definitely** **a little more character building going on in this one I feel, let me know what you guys think!**


	5. Hiding

"Brother…your supper is here! Y-you have hardly eaten anything and the doctors say that if you want to recover then you need to eat."

An uneasy smile graced Ed's lips as he sighed, "yea! Guess you are right, gatta get out of this damn place and get your body back…then we never have to come back here again."

Alphonse nodded slowly, concern filling his soul filled eyes. It had only been three days since Ed had awakened and seven days since they had saved him, but since then it had been the act of the gate opening to get the kid to do any normal functions such as talk to anyone, eat, or even laugh. Al had noticed and he knew that if Ed had allowed anyone else to visit then they would too. "Brother…"

Looking up from picking at his food Ed tried to shift his weight uncomfortably to better accommodate his sitting position, "Yea Al?"

"Why won't you let anyone else visit?"

This seemed to somehow catch the boy off guard, his golden eyes practically dulling at the question. "I did let people visit…"

Ed jumped as a gloved hand slammed on the end table of his bed, "you know that is not true brother, I have asked you this before and every time you say the same thing! Please…why? The first and last person to visit this room was Lieutenant Hughes and you yelled at him till he left! What…what is going on? What aren't you telling me?"

Ed could feel his whole being shaking, he underestimated his younger brother's perception sometimes and in a case like this that mistake could lead to devastation, taking a breath Ed waved Alphonse off as he sighed, "fine, fine, I guess I can't hide from everyone forever. They can come and visit!"

"That was not my question, brother."

Ed tensed at the small voice, damn his brother's persistence, "sorry Al…. I've just been tired. I guess seeing that deadbeat with a philosophers stone, fake or not, just made me feel…stupid. We try so hard to find that damn stone or at least the secret to creating one yet there are guys like that, that just somehow have one."

Al pondered on the explanation, meanwhile Ed hoped the excuse would be believable enough, he hadn't really told Al or anyone what all had happened and he knew that his younger brother was curious. After all, it wasn't every day that Ed swallowed his dignity and actually sent out a help signal, Alphonse knew that.

Much to Ed's relief Al sat down on a nearby chair in careful thought, "It was strange that a guy like that had somehow gotten a fake philosophers stone, and what the heck did he want with you? Who is he working for- or is he just crazy?"

Ed sighed, "beats me…whatever he attacked me for he did it swiftly." The blond alchemist swallowed his shaking voice as he tried to make his body stay still, he was shaking so bad. Of course, he freaking knew why the bastard had taken him- or at least half way knew anyways.

"Still…even for a swift attack he must have been skilled beyond belief in some way other than that stone- the only person I have really seen you struggle to fight is Scar."

Suddenly feeling an uneasy feeling in his stomach Ed defended himself, "I…I fought with all I had Alphonse I swear. I didn't mean to let anything bad happen to me."

"Of course not brother, I know that!" Al quickly reassured seeing the strangely uneasy look in his older brother's eyes. Something was still not right- hearing a knock on the door Al quickly snapped his attention towards the exit of the room.

Everyone who was close to the Elric brothers knew that, upon Ed's personal request and his lashing out at Hughes, it was not wise to try to visit the less than recovered alchemist at the moment. The two brothers prepared for anything as the door opened, "I guess I'll just let myself in then!" An angry Winry grumbled.

Ed and Al visibly relaxed, their tense stance's as Winry stomped into the hospital room, "Winry? What are you doing here? I didn't call."

"Hm! Well nice to see you too! And for your information Al called me, although he didn't tell me about you being in the hospital! And you!"

Alphonse flinched back as Winry snapped her head to him, his hands already held up in surrender mode, "you were supposed to meet me at the train station! You are lucky the Hughes's just happened to be close!"

Ed tensed at that, thankfully neither Winry or Alphonse noticed as the two bickered back and forth.

The last time Hughes had visited him had been about a day and a half ago, all it took was a five-minute private conversation and Ed was ready to throw the man out the window. He had told Al it was because the man had a horrible habit of showing off his daughter and wife at terrible moments and that he had just snapped because he had to wake up to that but that hadn't been the case at all. In fact, Hughes had not even showed one picture of his family- he had just asked one question.

"…Right brother?"

Ed snapped his head up from his thoughts, "Huh?"

"Um…your arm, it got dislocated from its port, right?"

Rubbing the back of his neck with his bandaged flesh hand he sighed, "Yea, sorta, it somehow got bent out of the port- sorry about that Winry."

Winry looked at Al in astonishment as the genuine apology hung stale in the air, shaking her head from the strangeness she sighed, "I left most of my equipment at the Hughes's house but I would like to start repairing your arm tonight." Winry babbled as she removed a screwdriver from her purse and made her way to Eds automail arm, as she was closing in to remove the arm from its port Ed softly but quickly jerked his arm away.

"Ed..?"

"Um…if it's all the same can you just come here tomorrow and repair it?"

If Ed's strange behavior hadn't thrown Winry off in the short time she had been there then it certainly did then, "um…sure, but why Ed?"

"I…"

 **I can't risk not having some kind of protection if and when Sin comes back for me.**

"I just had surgery on one of my lungs…it got punctured from the broken ribs I got about a week ago and-"

"Surgery?! Punctured lung?! Just what have you all gotten yourselves into this time?" Winry fumed.

Ed looked down, his trembling hands balling into fists. **How much am I going to have to lie about this?**

"He was ambushed by a mad man, it was not his fault- well this time anyways."

The three teens looked towards the rooms exit in surprise, sure enough Maes Hughes stood there, emerald eyes glowing with new found determination.

A dressed up Elicia peeked around the tense man as she clinged to her mother's hand, practically dragging the petite woman inside. She danced around the small room as she waved a wand around and twirled her bright pink dress. "Big sister- awh! Hi Alphwonse! Hi Ed!"

Al chuckled at the pronunciation of his name, "Hi Elicia! How are you? I like your dress!"

Elicia smiled as Gracia took that moment to pick her up, the small child's eyes trailed over curiously to Ed who was by now shrinking in his hospital covers. Elicia giggled, "Ed looks like a spider."

The whole room- even Ed- laughed a bit at the child's perception. It was actually not so farfetched as the cords and I.V.s snaked in all different directions from the machines to the bed making half the room seem like a spider.

Gracia took that time to carefully walk over to the injured boy, sweet concern in her eyes. "How are you feeling?"

Ed took a moment to think on that, since he hadn't had anyone come to visit he hadn't really put too much thought on anything they would ask- not that this question was all too difficult to answer. "Uh- well breathing is still a little weird but other than that everything feels ok!"

"I'd say so! Jeez! They have you hooked up to morphine- you're not going to be feeling much of anything at this rate." Ed glared bit at Hughes as he flicked the morphine bag hanging just above his head, "Hey! Do you mind?"

"Right!" Hughes spun towards a confused Winry and Alphonse, "So how about you guys go and enjoy the parade? It's going to start soon and I know you two have never seen Centrals Halloween parade!" Hughes offered.

Ed's eyes widened as he realized what Hughes was doing, he had to act fast, "how about you _all_ go enjoy it? Besides, I need some extra rest so I'll just be sleeping anyways."

Hughes smirked at Ed's sly attempt to escape the situation, "No can do Ed! See, you have been placed on watch."

Ed fumed at that, "watch? What does that even mean?"

"Due to your title and the incident that took place a week ago the Fuhrer has decided to put you on watch- which basically means that you always have military personal close by. So! Every year I have to be on guard for the parade- you know since there are soldier personal that are in it and what not. This year I either had the choice of having to keep surveillance on the parade or just helping you write out an incident report and keep watch of this room. So, I decided to stick with you until the next person comes to guard."

"Great…" Ed suddenly did not have the energy to fight any longer as he dropped his head back onto the sterilized pillow stack that was situated behind him. Looking over he saw Winry and Gracia talking cheerfully about the parade as Alphonse helped Elicia twirl for what had to be the twentieth time in her oversized pink dress. Ed couldn't help but let his mouth twitch into that of a smile, nostalgia plaguing his senses.

In small towns like Resembool things such as Halloween were a big deal since it was the only real excitement that ever really happened around the quiet little towns. Winry had always picked just that one day out of the year to completely change into what he and Al would call "princess mode" they would all go to school with costumes at the ready but Winry had always looked the best. Ed and Al had consequently missed the last few years of the Halloween fun as they had been with teacher in that time.

Seeing Elicia twirl had somehow taken Ed back to a time he desperately wanted back, he blinked in unfiltered astonishment as a tear trailed down his face. Ed swiped it away quickly but only after Hughes had glanced over to see the conflicting emotions at work and with that Hughes dug in his oversized coat pocket, "Alright Elicia! Here's your special crown!"

An ear-piercing squeal tore through the room as the small child jumped up and down as Hughes carefully paced the oversized hot pink crown on her head, "perfect!" Mae's eyes watered as his daughter smiled brightly, picking her up and twirling with her he laughed and brought her over to Gracia whom gladly took the now completely dressed in pink child from him. "You all have fun- and bring us back some food if you can!"

As Hughes and Gracia exchanged their affections and "be carful's" Al quietly walked over to Ed, "brother are you sure that-"

"Yes Al, I want you to go and have a good time- you deserve it after being crammed in here for so many days. Besides, I would feel better if Winry, Gracia and Elicia had a trustable escort."

Al nodded in understanding, "that's true- I hear that Central takes Halloween just as seriously as we used to back in Resembool- I miss that." Al chucked at the memories just as Ed had done.

Ed nodded a bit at the statement then narrowed his eyes, "just be careful out there, ok?"

Al sighed, "of course brother, you don't have to worry!"

"I know…there's just going to be a lot of people and-"

"Let's go Al!" Winry happily demanded as she all but dragged the suit of armor away leaving Ed to wonder how in the hell she had gotten strong enough to do that. His eyes widened as Winry unexpectedly snapped her head back at him, "if you rest I'll bring you back some decent food and a souvenir from the parade!"

Ed masked his overall lack of interest with a forced grin and a small wave, "sounds good!" He laughed as the crowd of loud people paraded out of the room- including Hughes.

 **Hm? Maybe he decided to leave with them- no that's too lucky.**

Sure enough his thoughts served him correctly as Hughes appeared in the door way once more as he happily waved everyone out of the hospital. As soon as Ed heard the double doors close to the end of the hospital hall, Hughes dropped his hand and quietly shut the small rooms door once more.

Ed grumbled, **here we go…**

* * *

 **Not the most eventful chapter- but you have to build up to it! Next chapter should be up super soon, just editing now. Comments/criticism are appreciated!~**


	6. Truth

_Previously..._

 _"Let's go Al!" Winry happily demanded as she all but dragged the suit of armor away leaving Ed to wonder how in the hell she had gotten strong enough to do that. His eyes widened as Winry unexpectedly snapped her head back at him, "if you rest I'll bring you back some decent food and a souvenir from the parade!"_

 _Ed masked his overall lack of interest with a forced grin and a small wave, "sounds good!" He laughed as the crowd of people paraded out of the room- including Hughes._

 _ **Hm? Maybe he decided to leave with them-no that too lucky.**_

 _Sure enough his thoughts served him correctly as Hughes appeared in the door way once more as he happily waved everyone out of the hospital. As soon as Ed heard the double doors close to the end of the hospital hall, Hughes dropped his hand and quietly shut the small rooms door once more._

 _Ed grumbled, **here we go…**_

* * *

Hughes sighed as he reentered the room, his happy-go-lucky features dimming a bit as he faced what would likely be the biggest challenge of his day, he knew that the boy in front of him had been through something more than just a beating. The paramedics had seen abuse before- they had seen rape victims before and they knew the signs and features of it all too well. The main issue as of now was to gauge Edwards memory and mental status of the situation- as well as figure out why in the hell an ex- state alchemist wanted the boy.

When he had first heard the main paramedic give the report exclusively to him at the scene Hughes had to admit that it had been hard not to start an immediate search and kill mission right then and there. Keeping his rage in check he had thought against it- getting Edwards perception of the event was top priority, he only had two choices at this point in order to continue any further with what would turn into a deep investigation. It was quite simple, either get Edward to confess about what had really happened or, the obviously unwanted choice, to seek medical proof.

With all this in mind Hughes put up a slight smile as he approached Ed, rage boiled in the man's chest as he looked at the clearly miserable teen whom had his head down as he fiddled with the loose ends of the hospital blankets that cocooned around him. Ed had gauze wrapped around his still mildly concussed head, many layers of gauze around his chest and torso as more than half his ribs had either been fractured or completely broken resulting in the collapsed lung the boy had nearly died from. Not to mention Ed's heavily bandaged arm which still somehow had a bit of blood seeping through, this was thanks to Sin who had completely mutilated the kids one arm. To top it all off Sin was also very adamant on completely destroying the port sight of Ed's automail arm as the clearly transmuted metal lodge had been bent completely out of place severing each receptor painfully, even now jolts of nerve endings were still firing through the boys shoulder making him cringe every now and then from what had to be unimaginable pain.

Hughes swallowed every ounce of anger as he neared the boy at what he deemed a comfortable distance for Ed's sake. "So! Ed I-"

"No."

"Come on Ed-"

"Nope."

"You have to talk sometime-"

"Absolutely not. You are here to "watch" me, not question me." Golden eyes glared at the equally unique emerald ones as Hughes took a seat nearby.

"Can I at least make an observation?"

Ed thought on that, it didn't sound like he would have to actually talk so, with a shrug, he muttered, "sure."

"You have not eaten- it shows, and that potted plant beside the window in the hallway is not going to hide all your scraps forever you know."

Golden orbs widened at that, "how did you-"

"You can't smell the rotting food until you pass right over it- how did you even get to the hallway?" Mae's questioned, genuinely curious.

Ed shrugged, "the bathrooms in this place are not in each room so Al has to help me to the units bathroom on the end of this hall- I always insist I'll get a nurse to help me back but usually just use the wall railing to limp back and throw the food in. I've got plenty of room to hide stuff in this stupid hospital gown- why do I have to wear this?!"

Hughes smiled a bit, "That's pretty smart Ed- at least the plan to get rid of it is anyways." Letting his smile fall he continued, "But you know as well as I do that you need to eat…you also know that we need to talk."

Ed's eyes down casted as Hughes stared at him, through his lies and mask, "…you said we had to write an incident report but this wasn't even a mission so why-"

"When cases like this come about in more populated areas it is a precaution that Fuhrer King Bradley himself made law that an incident report is put together. I can't do that accurately if you don't tell me what happened that night Ed…"

Hughes waited patiently as the boy's composure melted before him, they both knew that the report could be faked but today that just wasn't going to be the case. Ed fidgeted more and more, suddenly very uncomfortable under the gaze of the man sitting beside him. "I can't tell you- I can't tell anyone, ok?"

"Why?"

Ed closed his eyes, half way out of restraint but mostly out of complete exhaustion, he hated lying- especially about this. "Don't ask me that! Don't- not again."

"I have to ask Ed- I have to ask because I know who the man that attacked you was."

Ed's blood ran cold at that, "what..?"

Hughes eyes narrowed as he finally got a reaction from the child, "Sin, right?"

Ed nodded, his skin getting paler as Hughes continued.

"Sin used to be a state alchemist in the Ishvalen war, we had all assumed he was patrolling the out skirts of the city but that was not it at all…he had been raping and murdering countless children all in your age range. It was not until Mustang caught him red handed that it stopped. Although…apparently, he somehow got away- we had all just assumed that he had been executed like he deserved."

Upon seeing the blondes head fall Hughes reached out to steady the boy until he heard a dark chuckle, his hand hesitating as Ed let his head fall back as he was now facing the ceiling, his laughing going near hysterical. "Of course- that side of the story makes sense!"

"Ed…"

Putting a trembling hand on his now pale face Ed chocked back another uneasy laugh, "So you all got left with that bullshit ending, huh? The great Fuhrer himself is infuriated so he _heroically_ kills the man that Mustang found? Well, Sin let me in on the rest of what really happened."

Hughes moved closer to a disturbingly jovial Ed upon the insulting of the Fuhrer, "Ed- be careful on how you say things- you're in a military hospital. I don't like the Fuhrer as much as you don't but increasing suspicion is not really the best idea, ya know?"

Ed nodded suddenly feeling a strange bond the protective man sitting beside him, whether it was because he actually trusted him or he was just desperate to talk was beyond Ed. He uncharacteristically gulped in masked hesitance as he kept his voice low, "That's not what happened. The Fuhrer let Sin go the next day…he said to never show his face around Amestris again. No punishment of any kind- but they had made a deal. As long as Sin carried out whatever missions the Fuhrer gave him without hesitation then he could live- with the Fuhrer aiding him with as many fake philosopher stones as he wanted as well." Ed stared forward with the utmost hatred as he spoke, no longer caring about the rules Sin had given him for the moment.

"Why the hell….why would the Fuhrer do that? He had Kimblee after all-"

"Kimblee was better known in the war, so he served as a better example as a prisoner. Besides…what better person to carry out the most immoral missions imaginable than a man like _that_." Ed spewed with hatred.

Hughes did not miss the obvious hatred either, as shocked as he was about the Fuhrer he couldn't risk staying on one topic- especially with Ed finally willing to talk for once. "So…what kind of missions are we talking about Ed?"

Ed looked over at the curious eyes of Hughes and sighed. **I'm already screwed at this point- I was definitely not supposed to talk about that so might as well help in any way I can.**

"…Do you remember the assassination of the Xing emperor that had happened right after the war? How some "crazy" person from unknown origin just destroyed the emperor and everyone within a three-mile radius? That…that was only a small example of the missions that Sin has carried out. He is responsible for nearly all the catastrophes that happen outside of this country."

Hughes tried to blink the terror away from his eyes- to think that his own country- the country he fought for…his frown deepened as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I get it…if he keeps the other countries busy with their own turmoil then ours doesn't have to worry as much about attacks. That's…sick."

Ed flinched at the word as he looked away, "yea...it's all sick."

Hughes eyes softened as the boy squirmed in discomfort, concern laced with the careful statements that followed, "don't worry about the political mess of all that- I will take care of that myself but for now…can we talk about what exactly happened to you? I mean…like it or not he is very powerful with those stones and his own alchemic abilities…why did he attack you Ed?"

Ed tensed as the conversation turned to him, he had to say something- he just had to, he couldn't take the secrets, but the rules…he couldn't tell or else- no he had to tell, he had other people to protect at this point other than himself. "Mustang…."

Hughes eyes widened, of course! He was Mustangs subordinate and not only that but the kid was a prodigy! Of course, he made Mustang look like a genius for finding him and of course the kid helped him get a promotion, why not attack the very person that helped cause such success?

"So…can you explain what exactly happened, Ed?"

Ed groaned, "Do I have to?" It came out more in poorly masked fear then annoyance, only supporting the concern in Hughes's eyes.

"Unfortunately, yes." It was hard to just sit and watch the boy in front of him, he was the complete embodiment of anxiety at the moment.

"Well… I was going to turn in a dumb report to Colonel Bast- Mustangs office. I had somehow made it out of there without having to talk to anyone but I knew someone was following me- I _knew_. So I finally looked behind me- he was already there."

A bandaged hand quickly swiped away a single tear as Ed frowned acting as if it was common as he continued quickly, "So we fought- he beat me up and I finally realized that maybe I needed some help which is when I sent the pillar up and collapsed. Then you all showed up."

Hughes narrowed his eyes at the paling boy in front of him as he sighed, that was in no way, shape or form what all had happened- Hughes reframed from asking just what in the heck happened in the other several hours of the night. Edwards story did not match up- but at this point it would just be cruel to bring that fact up and make the exhausted teen in front of him to do any more stressful lying. Now came the hardest part of the night for the man.

"Ed…I know that is not all that happened. You were beaten up badly- in fact I don't think I have ever seen you in worse shape as I did that morning we found you… the paramedics later informed me that your injuries suggested something more. They needed your guardians consent to further examine you- I'm not your guardian but technically, as of right now in your military issued agreement, the person that is best to make that choice is Mustang."

It was as if Hughes was watching a real life human bomb about to explode as he finished, "Roy will be taking my place next to watch over you tonight- I can let Alphonse come with me if you don't want him here when you both talk but- hey!"

Hughes quickly grabbed Ed's bandaged flesh arm as the boy tried to rip the I.V.s and sticker monitors from his body, "get the hell off of me! I'm leaving!"

Warm liquid started to seep through the bandages of his arm at a quicker pace as he tried to rip himself out of the strong grip. Much to Ed's dismay a second pair of hands joined in Hughes's aid in calming the boy, "we need a nurse!" Called out a heavy voice- a familiar voice.

Ed pushed past the nausea as an unnatural and intense pain spread down his back and traveled all the way down his legs as it snaked back and forth making the teen lurch forward unexpectedly. The dry heaving episode did not stop him from fighting- although the coughing did.

"Damnit Ed, stop! You haven't healed from your surgery- your ribs aren't healed they could puncture your lung again and your arm is bleeding everywhere! You need to pull it together!"

Ed refused as Mustangs voice made it through his delirious senses, "I won't let you damnit! It's my body and I should be able to decide!" Hysteria laced through his words as Ed coughed even more.

The two men shared a concerned look as they let the nurse administer what was likely a sedative in the boys flesh arm, as his physical being calmed though his emotions caught up quickly. With the boy finally unable to move as the nurse took that opportunity to begin to rebandage Ed quickly. As she finished she turned to them, "please keep him calm- I will get a doctor in soon to check his lungs- he really jarred them."

Hughes and Mustang nodded in determination as she left, the two turning towards Ed as silent tears streamed down his face, sparing him a glance Hughes cradled his nose.

Ed rubbed angrily at his eyes as reality seemed to dawn on him again, he looked up with confusion but soon understood what had just happened, "d-did I?"

Hughes smiled even though his hand covered most of the expression, "Its fine Ed- I'm going to go get cleaned up." Hughes looked at Roy as he turned to leave, the happy expression long gone as a wary one

Roy knew that look it was a look in which he had grown accustomed to in Ishval from the man, _something is not right, be on guard._ He nodded in understanding as Hughes continued out of the room, pain now evident in his features.

Taking a breath Mustang started, "Ed. I'm not exactly sure what that outburst was about but if I had to guess it's because the news…"

Trying to turn his head, and failing at that, Ed sighed miserably. He only wished that he could move- that he could run and get away run from this place.

 **There is no use in trying to get away. I can barely walk short distances: my injuries are severe as it is- and besides…he is out there waiting.**

Ed's eye widened at that thought, it was true, he had to be waiting- or maybe he wouldn't even let him recover? Maybe he would wait for an opportunity just like this one when he was so sedated that he couldn't fight- let alone move.

Roy waited expectantly for Ed to answer the question he had just asked but upon seeing the faraway look in his eyes he had to guess that Ed was no longer in mental shape to carry on conversation as he was only moments before. He stepped aside as the doctor came in, stethoscope in hand and a warm smile on his face. "Ah Mr. Elric- I'm surprised I haven't heard more out of you!" The older man laughed, clearly not noticing the lack of reaction from Ed.

"The nurse had to sedate him- he's been pretty quiet ever since. " Roy inquired.

"Hm! That is odd…it was only enough to calm him- not completely debilitate him like this…" The doctor rounded the left side of the bed as he pushed the beds level up to where Ed was sitting completely, checking Eds vitals the doctor sighed, "he is out of it Colonel- and not because of the medication...its really important that we figure out what really happened, we have our suspicions but those don't do any good unless they are fact so we can act on them."

Roy looked at the concerned doctor, his own stomach dropping at the level of seriousness the older man's face held. "I understand, I will be out to talk with you on the issue later."

Nodding the doctor continued as he pressed the cold diaphragm of the stethoscope over the boys chest, the reaction was immediate as the hazy dullness of Edwards eyes lit up- Roy was quick to hold down the automail arm that was already half way off the bed, its destination was likely to be the doctors face had it not been pinned down immediately.

Ed's emotionless face lit up with fear and pain as the painful movement of his automail probably did not help the situation, his eyes still unseeing as he tried in vain to bring his arm up again.

"Fullmetal!" Roy snapped, he hated the look in the kid's eyes- it wasn't the controlled but equally deadly fire he was used to seeing, this was a blazing and uncontrollable flame.

The doctor did not seemed fazed as he thanked Mustang, "He isn't here right now."

Looking at the doctor unbelievably Mustang breathed through the hysteria that threatened his being, "What does that mean?"

"His pupils are dilated…heart rate is above normal... this is classic signs of a traumatic flashback Colonel Mustang. If this boy has truly been through what we hypothesize then as of right now he is flashing back- reliving everything."

Mustang looked to Ed as the child's eyes still blared, the kid was clearly elsewhere but ready to fight, despite all the injuries and pain. He grimaced as he looked away and back to the doctor, "I see, waiting any longer is not going to help his situation… I will allow further physical examination to prove or disprove your hypothesis."

* * *

 **Still not the most active chapter but the next one will be a lot more action focused, it is all coming along fairly well plot wise! Please feel free to voice any comments or criticisms! Thank you!**


	7. The Deal

**_This is horribly late but I hope it will be worth the wait! Sorry!_**

 _Previously..._

 _"Fullmetal!" Roy snapped, he hated the look in the kid's eyes- it wasn't the controlled but equally deadly fire he was used to seeing, this was a blazing and uncontrollable flame._

 _The doctor did not seemed fazed as he thanked Mustang, "He isn't here right now."_

 _Looking at the doctor unbelievably Mustang breathed through the hysteria that threatened his being, "What does that mean?"_

 _"His pupils are dilated…heart rate is above normal... this is classic signs of a traumatic flashback Colonel Mustang. If this boy has truly been through what we hypothesize then as of right now he is flashing back- reliving everything."_

 _Mustang looked to Ed as the child's eyes still blared, the kid was clearly elsewhere but ready to fight, despite all the injuries and pain. He grimaced as he looked away and back to the doctor, "I see, waiting any longer is not going to help his situation… I will allow further physical examination to prove or disprove your hypothesis."_

* * *

Roy grit his teeth as the doctor nodded, he hated that he was even uttering such words and he hated that he couldn't get his own subordinate to just say it- but he also knew it was all more complicated than that. The person that attacked him was Sin after all, the bastard had not only raped every child he came across but brutally murdered them as well- only one got away and that was the one Mustang had somehow saved the day he stumbled across the scene.

He remembered the child all too well- he had even attended the traditional Ishvalan funeral for the boy only a few short months later as the thirteen year old had committed suicide from the trauma. He remembered how tense the air was that day as he stared at the lowering coffin with the last of the Ishvalan race around him, he could feel the cold glares from every angle and he knew in the end that he deserved it.

Regret plagued Mustangs mind as his gaze was set on the broken boy in front of him, thankfully the unpleasant feeling was cut short as the doctor spoke once more.

"I will give you a few minutes with him as I go prep a team, I want to make sure our hypothesis is right about this so we can provide the best treatment both physically and mentally."

Mustang nodded as the man left, his eyes drifting back to the now shaking teen, "Fullmetal…Ed…hey, look at me." He was uncharacteristically surprised as the boy's eyes looked up at him reluctantly, their dullness returning as Ed spoke.

"…you agreed didn't you?"

Damn, even in a flashback the kid had still managed to hear, Roy sighed, "I don't really have a choice here Fullmetal, if you tell me the story- the real story then no, we don't have to do anything."

"Tell you…" Ed coughed, tiny specks of blood appearing on his white hospital blankets. "Shit…again?"

"That's not surprising, you had to have strained your lung in all the fighting against us you just did. I'll tell the doctor-"

"Wait." Ed rasped, "I-if I tell than they won't do anything else?"

Roy nodded, finally letting go of the calmed automail arm.

Tears formed at the corners of Ed's eyes as he tried to speak, the words wouldn't form, the thoughts flooded as they pooled around his brain making a lie impossible to tell. "He's going to find me again…if I tell you everything- he might come sooner." Ed hated the weakness he was displaying but at the same time- a rational amount of fear was a necessity of life, especially now.

Roy turned away from the broken teen, rage pulling at his senses for this demon that had attacked his subordinate, "he won't get to you again, I'm not going to let that happen." Turning once more this time to face Ed with determination, "I promise."

It was as if those two words were the key as the shaking intensified, golden eyes reignited with a vengeful fire as Ed swallowed every scream telling him to stop, "fine."

 **What are you doing?! You can't tell! You can't say anything! You have already said too much! Are you really going to trust this bastard? He is only concerned because you were and still are his ticket to a promotion.**

"I-I have a question first."

"Yes?"

"Why do you care?"

"Why do I care?" Why did Roy Mustang care? He cared because this was his subordinate, he cared because if rape truly was a factor like he had been told this whole time then it was unacceptable in all senses of the situation. He cared because this was Edward Elric. He cared because this pre- teen childish thing laying in front of him all broken up behind a poorly put together mask was hurting. He cared because this boy was his comfort- his faith in humanity was restored with this very boy and damnit, he was important to him whether Roy liked it or not. Now, if only he could voice every single reason in one phrase… "Because you don't deserve this."

Not quite the answer even Roy was expecting to mutter but in some way it had wrapped up every thought neatly. Thankfully it had seemed to satisfy Ed as well somehow.

Looking down in an attempt to hide his embarrassed blushing Ed looked everywhere but at the Colonel in front of him as he spoke, "So you guys are going to protect me If I tell, right?"

"There is no deal here- we will protect you Fullmetal. I just want you to tell me what happened- I don't have to tell Alphonse, although I think you should know that he has heard about you possibly being raped.

Ed's eyes darkened, "So he hates me…"

"Hates you?"

Ed tightened his grip around the hospital blankets in false hopes that the courage would come and he would mutter the embarrassing and unacceptable truth.

 **Stop stalling…just say it-** "I was."

Roy was confused now. "You were….?"

The confusion disappeared as Edward raised his head, his lips were pressed together as it seemed he was concentrating all of his energy to pull back the tears that had long since trailed down his face making streaks across the pale skin. "I was."

"I see." So that was it then, the golden-haired boy in front of him, the boy that went through three kinds of hell and still fought against every odd that was stacked against him with such a fiery spirit had somehow been raped as well now.

Ed fought against his reflexes as the colonel hugged him lightly also knowing the dangers of getting too close, as he backed away Ed was shocked to see a single tear get wiped away by an already stone faced colonel. "You are going to be ok."

Ed smiled a genuine smile as Roy sighed, "alright, I'm going to get the doctor since you decided to cough up blood again- I didn't know that tiny body of yours could actually obtain so much energy to even cause damage in your state!"

The smile slipped away as Ed flailed his arms- "Who are calling so small his organs can be mashed up with a single step!?"

Roy smirked clearly satisfied with himself as he left the room and quickly went in search of the same doctor that had left only moments ago, his lighthearted expression fell as he tried to steady the unsettling sickness taking over him. His subordinate, responsibility and inspiration- raped.

Mustang shook his head from the thoughts as he spotted the doctor not too far from the main lobby, the colonel made his way over to the desk the doctor was occupied behind, "Excuse me doctor, my subordinate just coughed up more blood- not a lot but I figured the runt better get it checked out." He didn't bother saying much more, his mind had to process the simple fact of rape happening before Mustang could even mutter the horrifying reality.

The older doctor chuckled a bit, "Of course, you know I have had Ed as a patient every time he comes through and no matter how gruesome the beating I can always predict the hardest parts coming in his recovery period."

A soft smile melted from the fake neutral facial expression that Mustang had plastered on, "Fullmetal knows how to put up a fight that's for sure, he never ceases to-"

SLAM.

Mustang looked around in alert as he expected to see a fallen binder or anything normal of the sort but he knew better. "Fullmetal…"

Without even listening to the doctor Roy quickly rounded the corner to find Ed's hospital door shut- not only that but upon trying to enter Mustang found the door supposedly locked. "Fullmetal!"

A muffled gasp came from the other side- a clear motivator for Roy to hurry and get the hell on the other side of the door he faced. Backing up he rammed into the wooden door- astonished as it did not budge.

Ed withered back into his covers as he tried to pace his unsteady heartbeat, Mustang had just left only after giving him the most comforting yet out of place hug and reassurance ever. Ed was surprised that he hadn't full on attacked the man after the light-hearted hug- it was just instinct now but he knew he was not in any immediate danger.

Laying back he sighed, **I'm not weak…the bastard just caught me off guard and it was either tell or get probed. I had to tell…but I wonder how much Sin knows at this point, is he really coming back? The others would protect me and I can sure as hell defend my own-**

Looking down at his still bashed up auto mail arm Ed flinched, he could barely move the thing and the stinging of trying to move it earlier still hurt. **Ok so maybe I'm still a little worse for wear but still, if I had to fight I could.**

Closing his tired eyes Ed let his mind drift back to the conversation that happened only five minutes prior, **what does he think of me now? Wait…why do I even care what that bastard thinks?! Still…he didn't seem mad or anything- not at me at least, just concerned. Honestly, I would prefer anger over concern any day…he also said Alphonse was at least semi aware of what happened. No… This event doesn't change anything…**

Tears threatened his eyes once more as he clenched both his hand painfully. He felt awful everywhere and no matter how much morphine they supplied his body with he could still feel the sickening after effects of what Sin had done.

 **Don't focus on it…I still have to get Al his body back and turn things back to normal- no matter what. Nothing has changed. I can do this-**

SLAM.

Ed sat up ignoring the blossoming pain he had just caused, wood splintered from the door as an angry Sin transmuted it- no one would be able to get in as the hinges melted around the door frame. Turning sharply Sin smiled manically at the shaking teen, "Ah! They really took care of you my Fullmetal Alchemist…it's a shame that it's time to go though!"

Ed had no idea what to say, all he could hear was the deafining heartbeat in his ears as he stared at the man in front of him with the utmost hatred and fear. The sound of Mustangs desperate attempts to bust the door open gave him the courage to speak, "There is no way in hell I'm going with you, you sick bastard! You are just a loser that couldn't follow a simple order in the war and now look at you! A puppet of the military." Ed smirked as confidence seeped through his veins, the rage fueling every fiber of his exhausted being, "That's even worse than being a dog you know, you are truly the lowest of the low."

Sin glared, "Now, now remember the deal Fullmetal? While I was taking away the last of your childhood I told you…do you remember that?"

Ed's eyes automatically watered at the way the man was speaking, "shut the hell up! I don't know what you are talking about!"

"Aw, I had feared that! Luckily I have something that can help."

Ed backed away the best he could as the man neared, syringe in hand, "no need to freak out dear boy, this will help jog the memory a bit for you. I had a feeling you were a little too strong, you shouldn't repress memories you know- not good for the head." The man laughed in borderline hysterics as the syringe broke skin, Ed gasped as the reaction was immediate.

"You..bastard…" Golden eyes dilated as each flashback poured painfully into his skull, he was reliving everything over and over.

"Well, do you remember?"

Ed let out a shaiky breath of air, "I…don't really have a choice. I swear if you hurt Alphonse I will-"

"Come now Fullmetal- we both know that I will follow through on any and every deal."

Ed shivered at the yellowing teeth smiling back at him, "…fine." He held out his automail arm with agony as he transmuted it, the blade produced gleamed at him as Ed glared at the man staring back at him. "Too afraid to do what needs to be done? That really is too bad Fullmetal-"

"Damnit!" Ed struck with one sickening blow, a thud reached his ears as he drifted. As for what took place next Ed wasn't for sure as he could only feel a few sensations, he felt warm but not in any normal way as he was getting weaker as well. He could hear some kind of fighting in the background but as for who and what and where…he drew a blank.

Golden eyes lazily opened taking in the hazy scene around, **ok…laying on my side, ugh that bastard couldn't have let me die on my bed? No- no I'm not dying…I am cold though..its like I have a blanket on me but my insides are cold.**

"You are not going to take him again!" Snap.

Ed's bangs brushed against his face as the fire weaved around him, **Mustang and Sin fighting- that makes sense. I need to get up and help.** Trying his damndest to move Ed soon found that mobility was not quite an option as he had no energy. A pair of hands soon supplied him with enough energy to hit whoever was trying to capture him, his adrenaline left him as quick as it came leaving an unconscious Edward.

"Damnit…" Hughes sighed as he dragged the rather heavy teen to the exit of the room, looking up he caught eyes with Roy who nodded his appreciation.

"Jeez Ed, this is the second time you have tried to attack me today and this is how you repay me?! You are lucky I dodged that last hit ya know." He knew he was babbling but honeslty the man couldn't help it as he finally made it into the hallway, putting all his strength into just pulling Ed along with him. The adrenaline rush was taking its toll as his hands shook, survival was key at this point and Hughes could feel that fact in every sense of the word.

"Get off me…go away…"

Without stopping Hughes looked down at Ed, "You are ok Ed, its Hughes…you are going to be ok."

"A little too early to be assuming that wouldn't you say Hughes?"

Hughes looked up, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Sin holding a borderline unconscious Roy Mustang above him, "I'll be taking the boy now."

Ed's eyes snapped open at that, the image in front of him was hazy but he could see Hughes standing in front of him ready to defend him as his daggers were resting between his fingers. His heart dropped however when he saw Sin holding Mustang by his collar in the air. "S-stop it! Just let him take me, you damn idiots! He won't kill me! He still needs me to-"

Sin raised his hand towards Ed as he growled, "I suggest you shut the hell up kid, you have already said too much!"

Mustang grit his teeth as he saw Sin about to attack Ed one handedly, he dug his nails into Sins wrist, "I don't think so. Now Armstrong!"

Sin looked displeased as glass stung his face, a massive man barreling through the nearest window, "Release the colonel Sin, do not think I do not remember you- or your weaknesses."

The low threatening tone of the massive man that stood menacingly in front of him seemed to cause a change of heart as the colonel fell with a thud, Sin looked at Ed and smiled. "Looks like you won this time my sweet Fullmetal- but we both know that it won't last." Sin held up his hand as red glowed from it and caused smoke to fill the air, Ed felt Hughes practically hug him as he tried to stay close. By the time the smoke cleared Sin was gone leaving a bruised and bleeding colonel Mustang, a shaking Ed, and ashaken up Hughes in his wake.

"Colonel Mustang sir, do you need assistance?" Armstrong questioned respectively.

"No I'm fine." Roy winced as he stood, swaying slightly as he kept his left arm close to him- it was likley broken. "Thank you for helping."

"I'm just glad to have been here when I was, sir. What is Sin doing alive- and why is young Edward his target?!"

The hysterical whispers of Armstrong set Mustang on edge, he had to be careful, no one in the military knew about Edwards encounter with Sin or even that Sin was alive for that matter. His own subordinates all knew but Mustang hadn't even informed the fuhrer himself that the supposed assassin had been Sin. "I will inform you of everything later, right now we need to get Fullmetal hidden the best we can, somewhere Sin doesn't know about…also…I need you to tell me more about Sin, Armstrong."

The broad man nodded, "the Armstrongs have an abundancy of secret caverns and living quarters to the west of Central. Sin would never be able to track Edward, they are also guarded heavily as well. You are welcome to use any of them at your leisure."

Mustang thought on that and sighed, " I will take you up on the offer…I know that Sin will be able to find us no matter where we are but if we can gain some time then it will be worth it."

"Right, I will be joing too then, there is much to talk about it seems. I'll go round up transport- I'll see to it that everything is not suspiciously done."

Mustang nodded as Armstrong walked off, turning his gaze over to Fullmetal and Hughes he held in a sigh as the boy was staring ahead. Hughes talked on and on trying to get the kid to just mutter a word but to no avail, his eyes widened when the golden head of hair slumped forward as Hughes caught him and laid him back on the floor.

"What just happened? Is he ok?"

Catching the sense of urgency Hughes held his hands up, "He is fine, just exhausted, he is bruised up pretty bad and his arm will not stop bleeding. Although it's not a lot thankfully."

Feeling his stomach drop even more Mustang quickly made his way back to the hospital room, he saw the random blood splattered about where he had been fighting but there beside Ed's bed sat a pool of crimson.

"Hughes wait here, I'm going to find a doctor. Keep putting pressure on his arm and try to wake him up!" Mustang cursed himself, he should have known when he saw the kid staring ahead just moments after the fight. Ed was not exhausted at that point- he was going into shock. There he had been talking to Armstrong when he should have been chasing a doctor down in the first place!

Finally finding the doctor hiding behind the lobby desk Mustang all but dragged the older man to the scene, "he got cut badly in the arm…it's been at least fifteen minutes and it hasn't stopped bleeding."

It only took a few minutes for the doctor to inspect the boys arm before he set into action, "Colonel please gather as many nurses as you can find- I'm sure most of them have left but I need a team asap. His radial artery has been severed- he won't last much longer if we can't stop the blood and get this boy a transfusion.

With that Mustang was off only to be stopped short by Hughes, "Roy, stay here with Ed, he's going to need someone when he wakes up and you can't get around very quickly in your state. I promise I'll find some help, ok?"

Emerald eyes reassured the doubt in the dark ones that stared back, "very well, see you soon- and Hughes?"

Hughes turned to looked at him one last time.

"Thank you."

Hughes grimaced, "don't thank me yet Roy, we have a real mess on our hands." Turning to run once more Hughes was gone leaving Mustang and the doctor to hover over a paling Edward.

Handing more gauze over to Mustang the doctor pressed against the teens arm once more, "thanks to your friend there he has slowed the bleeding considerably but in order to preserve the oxygen levels enough to support his organs we are going to need blood now. Just put pressure here on his forearm and I will return as quickly as possible."

Nodding Mustang took the doctors place, an uneasy sensation came over him as he tried to keep the flashbacks at bay, there was too much blood. Too much blood to make any of this ok and even seeing Ed knocked out Mustang knew that the emotional pain was just as bad. He breathed slowly trying to calm himself down, he was no good in a panic and that was not going to help ed.

Readjusting his seating position Mustang winced as Ed's automail cut into his knee cap a bit- "what?"

Looking down Roy saw that Ed had transmuted his arm into a blade- **probably his only defense.** Mustang thought to himself.

Upon closer inspection though he saw small words transmuted as well, they read: I'm sorry.

Mustang looked at the transmuted blade in sickening realization as it was drenched in blood, the wound was self-inflicted. Narrowing his eyes Mustang grit his teeth for what was likely the hundredth time that day as he looked at the unconscious teens face, "Fullmetal you better not die…you have way too much to explain."

* * *

Hope you enjoyed! I'm not going to even promise any specific update dates but I will work to get the next chapter up soon enough! Feel free to voice any comments or criticisms! Thanks for reading!


	8. Flashbacks

**I am back! I stumbled across this story again and decided it needs to be finished. I am not promising when the updates will come but I do have a new motivation to finish this story and maybe write some more! Enjoy**

"What do you mean brother has to go away?! And what do you mean I am in military custody?!" Alphonse fumed as Mustang stood patiently in front of him, an uncharacteristically nervous Maes Hughes only feet away trying to explain to his wife as to why he had to go away for a while.

Winry stood beside Alphonse with a neutral expression, trying to understand the little information that was being given. "Colonel Mustang, I understand that us being near Ed is for some reason a danger but please explain what is happening- its obvious someone is after him but why-"

"Mrs. Rockbell I cannot explain everything at this moment in time but I promise that both you and Alphonse will be protected and I will personally keep you updated on Fullmetals condition. He isn't in trouble with the military or anything, right now we just have to get him to a safe place for a while so we can figure things out. Someone is personally out to get him and they will likely target those around him that he has close relationships with, so for now please let me take care of this."

Winry looked down, her blonde bangs shadowing her blushed concerned face, "please take care of him…even in the few minutes that I was with him he seemed so lost…I don't know what happened or even what is happening now but please keep him safe."

Mustangs gaze softened, "I will, I promise."

While the sentiment seemed to be enough to ease Winrys mind it did not make Alphonse feel any better about the situation, "Colonel Mustang, you can't take brother away, he needs me to be there for him! We have never been apart- please, I can help and I promise I won't get in the way-"

"No Alphonse." Mustang closed his eyes and managed to keep his voice steady, he was starting to get inpatient. They were already supposed to leave hours ago and lingering in one spot was not going to help anything. "The person that is after your brother is going to do whatever it takes to get him, he already knows what you look like and he will use you to hurt Ed. I know you don't want that so I need you to stay here and help to protect both yourself and Winry…please Alphonse."

The suit of armor stood stiffly as the plea did not go unnoticed, Alphonse knew this had to be a big deal if such measures were being taken and now was not the time for petty childish emotions to get in the way of his own brothers well being. "Fine…but please let me know how he is as soon as you can."

Mustang nodded, "I will- and I promise to explain everything when I get the chance as well. I know it is not fair to the two of you to leave you in the dark."

The two nodded at that and took one final glance at the cleverly disguised ambulance that held Edward inside, with that they turned and headed back to Central headquarters where they would live until further notice.

Mustang sighed as he turned toward Mae's who had ended his conversation a long time ago, the two opened the doors of the ambulance and took a seat in the back on either side of a still unconscious Edward Elric. Major Armstrong soon entered the ambulance followed by the old doctor who took a seat in the passenger seat.

Armstrong looked perplexed, "Doctor Ty, are you sure you don't want to drive?"

The exhausted doctor looked over at the towering man, "I feel as if it would be better if I get some rest if that is alright with you Major Armstrong."

Armstrong smiled as he shut the driver's side door, "Nonsense! I was hoping you would let me drive, the estates have a bit of a rough route to them once you get closer!"

The conversation in the front seats soon continued on to small talk, Doctor Ty and Armstrong had gone way back as Armstrong had explained, the older man was almost like a grandfather to him as the doctor had been the Armstrong's private doctor for much of his childhood.

Mustang politely closed the divider between the front of the ambulance and the main section of the back, putting a hand on his face he let out a breath of air.

Hughes looked up from the disturbing image of an unconscious Edward to find an even more disturbing sight of his best friend. He tried his best not to notice as the colonels hands shook, "Roy, now would probably be a good time to rest you know, if Ed hasn't woke up in the past few hours he likely won't any time soon."

Mustang lowered his hand which revealed an expression he rarely showed, concern. "How did you get done talking to your wife so quickly? Wasn't she concerned?"

Rolling his eyes at the sudden change in conversation Hughes decided to play along, "she understood that it was important, besides, she is fond of the Elric brothers. What took so long with Al and Winry?"

"Tch, they just needed all the answers that I don't really have myself. Edward wouldn't even be unconscious right now if he hadn't…done that to himself."

"What do you mean?" Hughes held his breath as he waited for an answer. He didn't know what could have happened from the time he left to go get a nurse to returning to find the doctor already starting an I.V. but something somehow had.

"When you and the doctor were gone, I was told to hold the gauze to Edwards arm- in which I did. But as I leaned forward I felt something sharp- he had transmuted his arm into blade."

Hughes started slowly as he tried to process, "that was probably the only way he could protect himself…but there's more, right?"

Roy nodded, a painful expression played out as he spoke, "I got a closer look and saw that it had a lot of blood on it- and he transmuted two words: I'm sorry. He did it to himself Hughes…and I don't understand why. I've been trying to run through scenario's and of course Sin had something to do with it but in the end Fullmetal…Ed did this to himself."

"Which is why you got Winry to take his automail arm off…"

Sighing Mustang nodded, "I felt he would be safer that way- although I doubt he will care about the reasoning behind it once he wakes up and finds out that not only does he not have his arm but that it is six hundred miles away with the only mechanic that can put it on him."

"Sheesh…good luck with that one! Still…I don't blame you, I knew something wasn't right- you didn't tell Winry or Alphonse that, right?" Hughes tried to hide the fear in his tone, he was still taken aback that the strong willed and stubborn teen in front of him had tried to commit such an act that was so unlike him.

"Of course not. They would have been infuriated and above all else even more concerned then what they were- they would have never let us leave."

"Th-thanks…"

Mustang and Hughes both jumped bit as the teen in front of them spoke softly.

"Fullmetal! How do you feel? You shouldn't even be awake…how-"

Mustang was cut short as he noticed a single tear spill out of the glazed golden eyes that were staring ahead thoughtlessly, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…."

Maes shifted uncomfortably as he watched his friend struggle to respond to the broken boy in front of them, "Fullmet- Ed…don't you dare apologize. None of this is your fault…get some rest and promise me you will explain later."

Edward nodded softly as his eyes dulled once more and he fell back into a troubled sleep. "N-no…wait." Golden orbs made a reappearance as Ed struggled to sit up. Mustang gently held him down, "you are ok Ed, please get some rest."

"No…no you don't understand- tch! Damnit!"

Both Hughes and Mustang now held down the distressed teen as it seemed he was in pain, "Fullmetal what's wrong?!" Mustang called out, trying to tame the angry flame in Ed's eyes.

"Drugged me...he- that bastard- he drugged me…It hurts and I can't stop seeing it all!" Ed screamed.

Hughes cursed as he ripped the ambulance divider open, "Doctor! He says he has been drugged, he looks like he's in a lot of pain- we are trying our best to just keep him down but the stiches on his arm are bleeding!"

The doctor nodded as he skillfully reached into his doctor's coat pocket and pulled out a syringe, "make sure he doesn't move."

The two men did their best to keep the suddenly very strong Edward pinned down as the doctor injected the unknown liquid into his shoulder, the rest was instant as Ed soon fell back into a pained sleep.

Mustang wiped the sweat from his face as he took a breath, "what just happened?"

"I injected him with the only known sedative that doesn't interact with medications negatively, if he has been drugged we don't want to risk raising the toxicity any. I had a feeling that Sin had done something to the boy. Once we get to the estate I will have to run tests to figure out what chemicals he used but for now keep an eye on him." Taking one last look over of Ed's arm the doctor sighed, "thankfully we will just have to clean the stitch work up a bit but I think it will be ok."

As the doctor closed the divider once more Mustang punched the back doors of the ambulance in unfiltered rage, "that bastard, who the hell knows what we are dealing with."

Hughes eased towards his friend as he set a hand on Mustangs shoulder, "that might be our first clue as to why Ed did what he did though."

Roy let his shoulder drop, "maybe so…but still...what are these drugs going to do to him? Did you see his face?"

"Yea…it was obvious he was in pain…its strange that they have taken affect so late now. It has been what, five hours since Sin broke in? Ed hasn't moved a bit since he passed out."

"I'm not sure Hughes…what I do know is that we all need to be in peak condition before we get to the estate so we can help the best we can- I'm afraid that's all we can do for now."

"In that case…I'll take first watch, it is painful to see you struggle to stay awake."

Mustang was about to fire back when a yawn overcame his senses, "…Fine. Wake me up in an hour though- and if anything happens with Ed-"

"I got it Roy, get some sleep."

A grateful nod was granted as the colonel made himself as comfortable as he could in the crammed space and fell asleep quickly.

Mae's sighed taking in the scene of the two sleeping, concern flooding his senses as he thought back to only hours prior to this uneasy calmness.

 **Earlier...**

"Nurse! Please get me the portable heart monitor, I also need another bag of O positive blood and a few syringes, please get a standard first aid kit together as well." Sticking the paling teen in front of him the doctor made quick work of attaching a red bag to the other end of the I.V. and began to carefully stich the now cleaned but still bleeding arm, he wiped away at the blood every so often as he skillfully stitched up the last of Ed's arm. "I think he is stable enough for transportation, Colonel Mustang-...Mustang?"

The man in question currently sat against a wall a few feet over, his eyes dull as he only stared ahead.

"Hughes, please keep your friend awake until I am able to look at his head, it seems he has some kind of concussion."

Hughes nodded as he crouched in front of his friend, "Roy, hey, did you hear? Ed is stable enough to leave now. We can get him somewhere safe and figure out how we can take this bastard down. Stay here and let me get a wheelchair-"

Dark eyes finally casted away from the wall and stared into the blazing emerald green ones directly in front of them, Hughes could tell that the man was trying his damndest to gather his senses. Mustang looked like hell, he felt about ten times worse than that but as he listened to his friends voice he fought through the fog as he made a move to sit up more. "No, I am alright, just shocked from everything…has Armstrong returned?" Flinching as he stood Mustang showed no more signs of struggle as his eyes regained their focus.

As if on cue Armstrongs voice was heard as he entered into the hallway, "I have retrieved the appropriate transportation and disguised it accordingly, we are prepared once everyone is ready to take their leave."

Mustang nodded his thanks as he directed his full attention to the Doctor and his still unconscious subordinate. "Nurse, please get us a stretcher."

The petite lady nodded as she ran to the nearest lobby and retrieved a stretcher, it only took both her and the doctor to lift Ed onto the stretcher and as soon as the action was done the group rushed to the disguised ambulance that was parked in hiding.

As the nurse and doctor situated Ed's I.V.s and started yet another blood transfusion Hughes glanced over to Mustang, he was just in time to catch the man as he fell forward. "Roy! Hey!"

Having heard the commotion Armstrong rushed over to aid Hughes in setting the nearly unconscious man against a nearby wall. The doctor was soon hovering over the man as well, as he shined a flash light back and forth in front of Roy and checked his head a bit he finally sighed. "Just what I thought, he does have a pretty severe concussion, I am surprised he could even walk."

Hughes pushed his sickening panic down as his expression remained indifferent, "what can we do?"

Doctor Ty sighed, "just monitor him closely and keep him awake until the concussive symptoms subside, considering it has been an hour since the attack and he is still awake is a good sign. He needs to stay conscious for another two hours just to be sure. I need go gather some medical equipment anyways so we can take this opportunity to get packed."

The few hours the group took to prepare for the trip consisted of the poor random nurse and doctor Ty running around as they tried to retrieve all the needed medical equipment for Ed and possible emergency, Armstrong was assigned to go find Alphonse and the others at the parade, and Hughes found himself worrying over a mumbling and cranky colonel Mustang and still unconscious Ed.

"This is insane." Hughes grumbled as he rested his head in his hands, his worried gaze casted on his delirious friend, Ed's heart monitor setting a comforting yet annoying beat to the stale air.

Mustang sighed, "Sin of all people…I thought he was dead, just goes to show that this military is more corrupt then we thought. Did you get any more information from Ed on any of this?"

Hughes nodded, "a lot actually, it's a mess Roy, I'm glad we are getting away. I know this is just dragging this fight else-where but at this point I think its better that way…this man is evil- very evil. I'll have to give you the details later though, I don't trust this atmosphere."

The two men sat quietly as they looked over to Ed, Mustangs eyes softened as his gaze rested on the stiches in the teens arm. Mae's had a feeling from just looking at his friends reaction to the stiches that there was more to this injury but was hesitant to ask right at the moment, he trusted he would be filled in later.

"What are we supposed to do Hughes?"

Emrald eyes widened as the tense voice broke through Hughes's stupor, "what do you mean?"

"He has been raped…just a week or so ago he was raped. We aren't doctors, we aren't his parents or any of that. We have nothing to go off of, he still has to find the stone and now- now he might not be ok. He has tried so hard to just get to this point, his life has been absolute hell and now he's been…he's been r-"

"Roy. We might not be his parents or experts or anything like that…but we are his friends believe it or not. He looks up to you and I and now it's our duty to make sure he sees the end of this. It's also our duty to stay calm and take care of ourselves so we can take care of him…so I have to ask…were you planning to just go on with a concussion like that?"

Mustang rolled his eyes, "come on…I was a little stressed Hughes, and I-"

"You know I do not buy that for a second, I saw how you struggled to brush it off. You have had plenty of head injuries to know that it wasn't just a common stress headache. Before we head out I need you to really think about and promise that you will take care of yourself in all this. I know you want to punish yourself Roy…none of this is your fault though. Ed won't get better if you die in the process."

Mae's narrowed his eyes as Mustang looked over at him for a split second before looking away in shame. Hughes knew the look in those dulled eyes, he had seen his friend in a suicidal state before, he was not going to risk losing him now.

 **Present time….**

"Hughes?"

Looking up from his trance Mae's managed to see Mustangs face in the dimming light around them. "Hm?"

"I promise."

Mae's smiled, "good."

Hours passed as Hughes skillfully stayed up and watched over the two in front of him, every so often he would check their pulses for good measure. He assumed they were pretty far gone until the whole ambulance jolted upright. Both Ed and Mustang sat up and cringed almost at the same time.

"Armstrong?" Mustang called out.

"Apologies! We are reaching the more rough part of the route now, there are underground tunnels that we have running 5 miles to the estates. They are a bit bumpy given their lack of use, I will try to drive as carefully as possible.

Golden eyes blinked in confusion as Ed attempted to sit up, Hughes grabbed a couple of pillows and made it so the teen didn't have to exert himself. "Thanks…where exactly are we?"

"We are on our way to one of the Armstrong estates, I have talked with Winry and Alphonse as well, they are currently at headquarters being protected as high priority."

Mustang let out an anxious breath as he saw the teen untense a bit, "How are you feeling?" A stupid question he knew but anything to get minimum information out of the kid. Hughes had filled him in on all of the horrors that Sin was responsible for outside of the country, but they had yet to get all the details on why Ed had been attacked. He knew that Ed might have been targeted just for the kid causing him such success but somehow he knew there was much more to it than that.

"My head is foggy…I don't really know how to explain it, there are pieces of memories coming back but they are not coming in the right order. It's like I have to sort them all out…somehow I know it has not gotten to the bad part yet though. I don't…I don't want to remember everything." Ed's eyes watered as he looked forward, "I already feel everything that happened so why…why do I have to remember it too?"

Hughes couldn't help himself, every fatherly instinct he possessed kicked in and before he knew it he was hugging Ed in what he meant to be a firm and encouraging embrace. Unfortunately the opposite reaction occurred as a scream erupted throughout the vehicle. "Armstrong step on it! We need to get him stable!" Upon the command the vehicle lurched onward at a dizzying speed as Mustang and Hughes found themselves holding Ed down.

"Ed! Ed you are safe!" Mustang turned the light above them on but held back a gasp as he saw the boys eyes were distant and fearful. Hughes felt awful as Ed cried out and tried to pull at his I.V.s, doctor Tys voice soon gave them direction.

"You will have to hold him down for now, I would sedate him again but at this rate it would not be safe to do so with such a short span of time separating the doses."

The two men nodded, grim expressions remained as they heard Ed's deafening cries.

"Please stop! Stop! You can't do this- this..this isn't right! Someone help! Please help me! God, stop! Stop fucking touching me you bastard!"

Fifteen minutes painfully passed as the cries never ceased, Ed was a sweating emotional mess. His cries and pleas gave a painfully clear image of what exactly happened that fateful night. He begged for help, begged for Sin to let him go, to stop touching him, to stop ripping his clothes off. He cried and grit his teeth as Mustang and Hughes watched him cringe in pain as the worst of the memory came to light.

Finally arriving to the estate, the doctor opened the back of the ambulance and everyone carefully sat the stretcher down as Ed was held down even more while the doctor administered another sedative, for only having one arm the kid was putting up one hell of a fight.

"He will have to be on twenty-four-hour vitals watch now, I couldn't bear to watch it anymore though. I have taken a sample of his blood and will work to find an antidote before he has to wake up and endure anymore."

The two men watched as Armstrong and Doctor Ty unloaded all the medical equipment and moved them inside, it took a while for them to understand where they were until they looked up to see that the whole estate entrance was underground, the rest of the mansion was built in to the side of the near by mountain and was perfectly camouflaged with trees and even a massive waterfall.

Mustang looked over in concern, "Hughes, it wasn't your fa-"

"I know…I know. I should have known better then to hug him though…especially after seeing what triggered the drugs effects. I caused that flashback…"

"He needed to go through that."

Mae's looked over in shock, "needed to?"

"Not that severely of course…never that severely but now we all know what we are dealing with. It's important that we remind him that its ok to talk about it and we would never judge him. This is exactly like my PTSD therapy Hughes…I can help in some ways."

Hughes smiled at his friend, glad to see a small smile on his face. "You are right, it will be pretty hard to find us up here too! You sure Sin could even find us?"

"No doubt he will…remember that he is also an ex-state alchemist. He is no stranger to combat or tracking and he will find us soon. For now, we do what we can as quickly as possible, I give it three days' time before we are found. We need every clue we can to figure out why else he is targeting Fullmetal, if we can figure out Sin's plans then maybe we can predict his next move."

Hughes nodded, "you're right, in the meantime let's get Ed a nice place set up so he can relax when he wakes up."

Mustang smiled, "right, once we get the antidote I will feel better as well, Fullmetal has had enough. Hopefully now he can get some real rest and start recovering."

It was in that exact moment, that split second, that everything went black in Roy Mustangs eyes, the flame alchemist was barley caught by a hysterical Armstrong as explosions and shouts could be heard from every angle.

"Get him in the ambulance now! Drive damnit! I'll hold him off, just go!"

Darkness soon enveloped anything left to hear or see, an abyss of any moment from then on as chaos ensued.

* * *

 **I am really sorry for taking this long to update, I know how frustrating it is to read this far into a story without knowing the ending. I have severe depression and with every episode its like the act of God to get back into my interests. Thank you for sticking with me though, to be continued!**


	9. Desperation

**This happened way more quickly then I thought it would but here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"How could we let this happen?"

"He was too strong."

"That's no excuse! We have no leads, no evidence of any kind of where he could even be! We are screwed-and Ed….shit…we have to find him."

Mustangs eyes opened at that, a black fog soon overtook his vision as he sat up, hiding a cringe from the immediate jolt of pain to his side he quickly found his voice, "Where is Ed?" Roy quickly regained his vision back as the paling faces of his comrades and best friend came into view, he grit his teeth as his fists shook, "Where is Ed?!"

Hughes looked at the other two bruised and battered men as they took that time to quietly leave, a sure amount of guilt plagued their faces as they looked back apologetically.

"Roy…"

"Do us both a favor and cut the crap Maes, let's just get to the point, tell me exactly what happened."

Hughes sighed as he shifted in his chair, his hands now lay on his knees as he leaned forward, Roy took this time to look over his friend's injuries. He saw the slight sway in Hughes's features, he knew that his friend was and had been trying to hold out just to fill him in upon his awakening.

"He was too strong Roy…it all happened so fast. One minute we were talking about how long we thought we had till Sin found us and the next…it was already too late."

Mustang's stare never faltered, urging his friend to continue.

"I'm not sure I have ever seen an alchemist make transmutations so quickly, he didn't even touch the ground or clap his hands…nothing Roy, he just did it! You passed out after you stepped on the first land mine that must have been planted by Sin way before we arrived."

Roy's stomach dropped as he heard this, "so he was several steps ahead the entire time…we should have checked Fullmetal's clothing, he no doubt planted something on the kid to be able to know all our plans like this." Dark eyes narrowed as Hughes shifted uncomfortably.

"What is it Hughes?"

"I have good reason to believe that Ed gave away our location on purpose upon Sins command. I do not know when he made contact with Sin in the short amount of time he wasn't being watched closely but there is no doubt." Upon seeing his friends anger Hughes decided to continue quickly, "When the first explosion sounded and took you down we didn't have much time to act. Armstrong was the only reason we got away with our lives. We originally had Ed and were going down the mountain side as doctor Ty worked on stopping one of your worse injuries, you had been impaled by a metal rod that barley missed your organs…it was almost like a warning to not try anything…"

Mustang looked down as he tried to piece all the information together, "I should have been more cautious…to think I stepped on a mine of all things."

Hughes shook his head, "they were planted everywhere, all it took was Sin seeing us arrive and as soon as he enabled the damned things everything was up in smoke in an instant."

"I see…so if we had Ed in the ambulance with us... and Armstrong stayed behind to fight Sin off then how did Ed get taken?" This was when a slight tension filled the air, the unease made Roy nauseous as he watched his friend struggle to find words. "Hughes…"

"Ed jumped out of the ambulance."

Fire ignited the room around the two as Mustangs anger fueled the flames, with a slight sigh Mustang took his gloves off and placed them to the side, the fire died as he breathed. "He jumped."

"Yes. Not only did he jump but he jumped at the massive bridge that went over the mountains gap. I don't even know if he expected Sin to catch him or not as he jumped directly off the bridge from the back. Sure enough, Sin did catch him and when we regrouped with Armstrong he was a mess. All he could say was to find Ed quickly, and watch out for you. He said all Sin wanted was you and Ed…when he came to about an hour ago he couldn't recall any event in the past two days. Doctor Ty ended up taking blood samples from him just to be safe, he was drugged, that is for certain. Armstrong had a amnesia episodic type of drug injected into him, the Doc says he probably won't ever remember the past couple of days."

"Damnit!" Roy slammed his fist on the ground as he tried to remain calm, "I guess its time I make a call then."

"To who? Alphonse? Roy, he would be destroyed."

"I understand that but I rather him be destroyed now and help us then be heartbroken when he has to attend his own brother's funeral which we both know will happen if we do not get our asses in gear as soon as possible! I need a phone Hughes."

"No."

Roy's eyes widened as Hughes looked up, his green eyes were sharp as he glanced away. "When we were in the ambulance Ed would only mumble a few key things. They were: Keep Al away and I'm sorry."

"I see…." Mustang sighed as he sat up and started ripping the bandages off his worse wound on his side.

Hughes quickly held Roys wrist away, preventing him from doing anything further, "No…I'm sorry but I can't allow you to do anything in your condition. Please, just get some rest so we can figure out a plan."

Mustangs eyes narrowed, "Where are we?"

"We are off the road a bit from the mountain path, none of us could get very far with our injuries."

"How is everyone else?"

"Armstrong is healed up pretty well, just sore, I don't know how the hell he stood his own like that but he did. As for Doctor Ty, he got out really lucky too, only because Armstrong protected him and Ed when he put them in the ambulance. I am fine and you…that wound you just agitated needs to be wrapped and cleaned because, like I said, you were impaled. Not only that but your concussion was once again worsened by a direct blow from all the debris, your ankle was also fractured when you got pinned and dug out by Armstrong and I."

Roy's eyes roamed over his friends frame once more as Hughes finally let go of his wrist and backed away a little. A pair of angry bright green eyes glared back, Hughes snapped, "Can you stop doing that?! Its creepy!"

"You got hurt badly, did he attack you directly?"

Hughes looked down in defeat, too exhausted to make any lies to lessen the guilt his friend was likely feeling. "When he saw me carrying you back to the ambulance he seemed to snap, that's when I sensed his goal was to capture both of you."

"I see. Thank you Hughes, for being honest, I am sorry I got you involved in this." With that Roy tore his bandages off completely revealing a stitched up gash that ran very deep. "He spared me…he could have easily killed me on the spot. He has a lot of explaining to do."

Hughes gasped as he realized what his friend was about to do, he was too late as Roy snatched a single glove and snapped a flame over the wound. The results were immediate as the gash quickly closed together painfully. Roy bit down on a nearby cool rag as the process was repeated quickly on several other problem gashes, soon he swung his legs over and stood uneasily. Taking gauze Roy set off on quickly wrapping his ankle tightly not really minding the pain as it seemed to calm his rage.

"You are an idiot ya know that?! I am not letting you leave Roy, we don't even have a plan! I know you and Sin have a rough history-"

"No Hughes, you don't understand. Sin didn't have a personal vendetta against all those kids he raped in Ishval, so what do you think will happen when he actually feels he has a reason to do this? It's obvious at this point that revenge is the game, the only part I can't truly understand is what more there is to all of this. In any case, I am going now."

Holding out his arm weakly Hughes sighed, "I am not letting you leave, just rest for a day longer and we can-"

"A day will be too late!" Roy looked down as his ruffled hair covered his distraught facial features. "I'm sorry Hughes." It happened in a flash, Roy knew what his friend was planning, he knew it all too well. He took the hidden syringe away from Hughes with ease from its place in his military jacket.

"How did you-"

"I'm sorry."

It was not long before Hughes fell to his knees as he fought to keep his vision, Roy lifted the disoriented man off the floor and made haste in laying him on the makeshift stretcher bed they had tried to make as comfy as possible. He left the now empty sedative syringe on the nearest seat, Hughes still looked surprised as Roy looked at him apologetically.

"Roy…please…"

"I will be fine, your wife would kill me if you came home even more beaten up than you already are." With that Mustang took a moment of silence, he knew it was the only peace he was guaranteed as he turned and exited the military tent.

Armstrong and Doctor Ty were sitting on an oversized fallen tree out of ear shot, Roy took a moment to soak in the peaceful scenery. The dying fire in front of the tent as well as the many beautiful trees in their fall colors surrounded him, he smirked, "looks like the trees are on fire to me." His rage went unfiltered as he walked up to the two bruised men in front of him.

"Colonel!" Armstrong saluted, "It is good to see you are doing better sir!"

"Thank you Armstrong…"

"Colonel?"

Roy tried to put as much concern in his tired voice as he could, "You have to hurry. Hughes has just fallen in my tent, I tried my best just to get out here."

"Oh no! Stay put colonel we will return shortly to help you back to the tent!" With that, Armstrong and doctor Ty were out of the picture leaving Mustang sprinting to the ambulance with keys in hand. As soon as he took off down the rocky roads of the beautiful mountain road he saw Armstrong and Doctor Ty trying in vain to run after him, shifting gears he sighed, "sorry men, but this is my fight now."

Mustang had no clue where to even start, the only plan he thought through was sneaking away with the ambulance, nothing more. A sudden idea came to mind, he was perfect bait, if Hughes was right then Sin wanted both Fullmetal and himself. With a smirk Roy stepped on the gas making the vehicle go as fast as it willed itself, "I don't have time in picking places to go and wait for this sick bastard- if he really wants revenge then he won't let me die."

It was risky, it was impulsive, it was also the effects of way too much morphine but Roy did not care. If this was going to get him closer to Fullmetal then so be it.

* * *

 ** _Earlier…_**

"Roy….you really are a bastard ya know that?"

"You are a sore loser Hughes, you should have seen this coming."

Hughes laughed weakly as his eyes drooped even more, "you're right….so don't make me regret it more than I already do."

"Hm! I'll try not to-"

"No Roy. You have to. Get fullmetal and get your ass back here- safely."

Mustangs grim look sickened Maes, even half out of it he knew that look. "You need a plan, a-a solid plan! Please! This is suicide!"

"I have a plan Hughes." With a quick jolt Mustang reopened his biggest wound with a sickening crack.

"W-what are you doing?!" It was agonizing for Hughes, he could barley move let alone formulate a reaction, here he was so close to his friend that just reopened a deadly wound and was bleeding everywhere and there was not one thing he could do except whisper as he tried to fight off sleep in hopes to talk sense into his deranged friend.

"Relax, see?" Roy held up a small glowing chip and, with an almost straight face, shoved the chip far into the now heavily bleeding side wound he reopened. Not long after this another snap was heard as the charred and scarred up skin roughly came back together again.

"Jesus Roy….what the hell was that?" Hughes was by now having to close his eyes as he talked, he knew it was futile but at the same time he knew this was all the information him and the others would have to go off of when he woke again.

"Here." Handing over an oversized box Hughes looked down to see a radar with a single red and green dot. "It isn't much but this tracker will hopefully lead you to where I am, it's the newest in the military's equipment so call this a top secret test run. Anyways, that red dot is you and the compass on this will help you find that green dot. That's the plan anyways…"

Hughes looked at his friend with the last of his strength. "You…are just going to let him take you? Roy…"

"I've made up my mind Hughes. I hope to see you soon, I will radio HQ for the rest of my team to come and pick you up. Please let them find us after that…you and the others need rest."

Hughes smile grew at that, "Psh, I'll be there to save your sorry ass. Can't stop me." His smile shrank as he tried and failed to open his eyes, "Roy…be safe, or I will kill you…"

* * *

 ** _Present…_**

Roy sighed as he felt the morphine surge through his veins, he couldn't help but crack a sinister smile as he brought a bottle up to his lips, all military ambulances were equipped with one bottle of cheap yet strong alcohol. It was more of a running joke than anything among the army men, they called it a last ditch effort/good luck charm. Either way, it was working in Roys favor now, the flame alchemist had to admit that this was all pretty impulsive but his intentions were pure and determined- get to Fullmetal.

Roy sighed as the speedometer read 70, "Come on Sin, where are-what is that…" Roy focused his half drunken mind on a slight red glow, he stepped on the gas pedal. The red was blinding as he kept driving towards it, before he could even think to step on the brakes everything came to a halt and brought Roy Mustang the gift of unconsciousness.

Roy groaned, "there is no way in hell I passed out again…" Rubbing his head he looked around to his now musty surroundings, he looked up just in time to get kicked in the stomach.

"Nice of you to join in the fun Flame alchemist Roy Mustang!"

Roy smirked despite the intense pain ripping through his body, "About damn time, I thought I was going to have to shoot a flare gun. Here I thought you were this skilled ex- state alchemist that would notice a random car driving around the split second it happened- guess you lost your touch over the years."

Sins smile faltered a bit, "so you wanted to get caught, hm? Any plans now flame? I have already taken your gloves you know, without those you are pretty useless. In fact…"

Roy was taken aback as Sin cuffed his wrists together tightly and threw him in what seemed to be a small iron barred prison cell.

"You are almost as useless as my poor little fullmetal alchemist is without his automail, I mean he was helpless before but because of you…"

Roys stomach turned as Sin shut his cell door and locked it then proceeded to open an identical cell right beside him, the disgusting man lifted a lifeless body off the ground bridal style as a single lightbulb was clicked on above the two.

"It's been really easy to make my little alchemist mine! It hurt when he had his arm, he would try to push me away and put up a fight! But now? Hm….now he is all mine for the taking." Sin threw Ed onto a single dirty mattress the cell had and smirked down at him. Roy could feel the rage eating away at him as he glared at Sin.

"Why the hell isn't he moving Sin? Surely you wouldn't have gone through all this trouble of manipulating and scaring the kid half to death just to kill him."

"Why of course not Roy! He isn't dead….just exhausted its been a busy day to say the least." Sin chuckled as he pulled at the torn collar of Ed's usual black undershirt, "I'll let you all rest for now, tomorrow we must celebrate your arrival! I'm so glad you decided to join in on the fun." Sin laughed a bit before slamming the cell closed and disappearing around a cluttered corner leaving Roy a slight drunken heap on the cold concrete floor.

Mustang looked around carefully as he ignored the pain that was becoming more and more overwhelming by the second, it seemed like they were in a smelly rundown basement somewhere, no windows, one exit that was likely heavily locked and out of sight. Not to mention the iron bars that surrounded both him and Ed, it pained him that he couldn't even be in the same cell as Ed to offer some kind of comfort. Right now though all Roy could do was situate himself against the barred divider and quietly watch Ed's hesitant breath, it was the only comfort the man was going to get from being here.

"I'm sorry Ed…I should have come up with a better plan than this but I couldn't stand the thought of you having to be alone with him anymore. We will get out of here soon enough, just hold on."

Hours passed as Roy finally found enough peace to rest his eyes, the light above Ed flickered as a slight gasp was heard. "Fullmetal?"

"….Mustang? Is this some kind of sick drug hallucination?"

"No, no Ed its me! I let myself get captured but I have a pla-"

"You…what? You what?!"

"Listen Fullmetal, it's all going to be ok." Roy reframed from saying anything more about the plan realizing that there may be cameras around.

The broken boy slightly sat up enough to lean his back on the concrete wall behind him, a slight hysterical laugh erupted from him as he brought his shaking hands to his face. "We are going to die, we're going to fucking die down here Mustang. Without your gloves and my arm I would like you to explain how in the hell anything else is going to happen."

Mustang shifted uncomfortably as another hysterical chuckle came from the teen. He narrowed his eyes as Ed tried to bring his knees to his chest and stopped short.

"Are you hurt?"

Ed looked away from him even more as he mumbled a solemn no.

"Hm...no offense Fullmetal but you look like shit." Mustang took note of the newly wrapped bandages on Ed's arm. "He gave you new bandages?"

Ed chuckled, "said he had to keep his prized possession in tact."

Roy gripped his fist at that, "I see….well...do you want to sit over here so we can get these damn handcuffs off of me and plan an escape? We both need some medical attention, no use in sticking around here any longer."

"No."

"…What was that?"

"You heard me! I said no! We can't escape you idiot! Unless you can come up with some kind of new alchemy then-

"I have chalk hidden in my shoes, I always carry some with me."

It was as if Roy Mustang had somehow ignited a new fire in the teen as the boy struggled to stand and limp over. The closer the alchemist got though, the more enraged Roy became, he was covered in bruises and cuts.

As Ed set to work on getting the cuffs apart, Roy took that opportunity to have some kind of conversation with the kid. He had a lot of questions, but he wasn't even sure what Ed had been through in the past day alone, it was obvious some form of abuse happened in the short time Ed had been gone.

"How are the others?"

"…They are healing up, the land mines caused a lot of minor burns to them all but despite that and Hughes having a few broken ribs and some serious bruising everyone got out relatively safe."

Ed looked extremely guilty as he nodded, "are you ok?"

"I managed to get out with a slightly messed up ankle but that's all…although my capture by Sin has left some broken ribs it seems- nothing major though." Roy hoped the kid bought that, he couldn't stand to see the guilt in his tired eyes.

"I'm sorry…I lead him right to where we were colonel. He promised he wouldn't touch Al or Winry if I just gave myself up, he told me he knew exactly where to hit on Als armor to- to make sure that his soul was eradicated. That's why I will get you uncuffed and we will fight like hell to get out of here so I can find this damned philosopher stone and apologize to Hughes and the others for putting everyone in danger like that."

Roy smiled a bit at Ed's new found determination, it somehow seemed to calm the man's mind knowing that despite all the awful events, Ed was always going to have one goal. As Edward set on weakinging the cuffs connecters Roy could no longer hold back on a question that had been bugging him ever since Hughes informed him of everything after he passed out.

"Fullmetal. Why did you jump out of the ambulance like you did? Were you planning on Sin catching you or-"

"I knew he was watching…I guess I didn't care if he had caught me or not when I jumped."

Mustang looked down solemnly as his heart dropped a bit, silently making a vow to get Ed some kind of help for all the shitty stuff that was now clearly plaguing the teens mind. He wouldn't get into it now though, they had to survive first.

"There!"

Roy pulled the now broken cuffs apart and smirked at Ed, "let's go." Pulling the chalk from his shoe Mustang set to work on a transmutation circle- as soon as he started though the chalk turned a faint red and disintegrated. "What the hell-

"I am quite offended you both seem to think I am an idiot!"

Ed looked up in terror as Sin frowned at him through the iron bars, putting his head down the teen grit his teeth. "No."

"Hm?" Sin began opening the cell when Ed stood and glared at him, "You are going down you sick bastard!" Picking up a rando broken off piece of wood from the mattress beside him Ed charged at the greasy man in front of him, all it took was a bright flash of red light to stop Ed in his tracks.

"Fullmetal!" Roy called out in horror as blood splattered the walls.

Sin raised the fallen boy up by his neck and sighed, "just when I had him trained you come and make him feel like he has a chance, that is quite annoying you know Mustang. Here-" Sin threw the bloodied Edward into Mustangs cell along with a semi clean rag. "Make sure he lives, I have work to attend to."

Roy quickly gathered the bleeding teen in his arms as he tried to comfort him, he growled as he looked up to see Sin starting to leave, "you bastard! I need more then a dirty rag! He still has broken ribs and you just fucking impaled him! He could die!"

Sin smirked, "well then you better think of something quick then, here." Tossing a roll of gauze Sin waved the two off as he disappeared around the corner once more.

After hearing the door shut and lock, Mustang desperately pulled Ed's shirt off of him and assessed the damage, it had all happened so fast. One second Ed was charging towards Sin ready to kick some ass and the next he was being impaled in the side by the very weapon he was carrying.

"Shit…shit…I should have known better." Ed growled under his breath as Roy attempted to get the largest chunks of splintered wood out of the bleeding wound.

"Just hold on Fullmetal, stay with me." Roy shook as he got one last tiny chalk piece out of his shoe that had broken off, he could only draw a small and simple transmutation with it but that was all he needed. "Here." Mustang let Ed bite down on the cleanest part of the rag as he focused his energy, Ed's screams were muffled as fire skillfully covered the massive wound and sealed it. The flame alchemist sighed as Ed's eyes rolled back and he went still.

"I'm sorry Ed…it was the only way to keep you alive." Mustang shifted his weight against the wall behind him as he let the boys head rest on his lap, taking in the bruise marks up close the man felt rage run fresh through his veins. It was clear to him that Ed had once more been raped, the cuts and bruise marks on his arm showed just how much Ed was trying to get away along with his busted lip and blackened eye. "That bastard is going to pay one way or another…we will get out of here Fullmetal and we will kill him."

Mustang shook a bit as he said this, not realizing what horrors lay ahead as the next day dawned.


	10. Manic

_TRIGGER WARNING: Profanity, sexual abuse and mild self harm are all in this chapter- it gets a little messed up! /Please enjoy and review!/_

* * *

Ed was terrified- no, terrified would not even justify the amount of anxiety and shame he was currently feeling. Ever since he had been captured only a day ago, so much had happened, the moment he jumped off the bridge from the ambulance Ed knew that he was basically surrendering. He realized that in order to protect his little brother and childhood friend he would have to make the ultimate sacrifice, however, had Ed known the true motives behind Sins plans he would have tried to fight. As soon as Sin caught him he had been sure to punish Ed. Every mistake from saying too much about Sin's past all the way to taking far too long to come back to him, the day had been filled with violent beatings, little to no time passed in between getting beaten and getting violated over and over.

Ed looked up towards Mustang, he sighed, knowing the man was going to want to know what had happened prior to his arrival. Golden eyes teared up at that, how the hell was he supposed to tell anyone of the horrors that had just happened when he himself had a hard time believing it?

Dread filled the aching teens heart as he tried to close his eyes once more, he focused on the sounds of Mustangs breathing. He felt rather stupid for waking up and realizing his head was resting on the Colonels lap but at the same time a strange comfort came across his being as he lay there. He felt like nothing could hurt him, felt like everything was going to be ok- but it wouldn't be. Ed knew that.

He took a shaky breath as he brought his hand up to try and wipe the damned tears plaguing his vision, "he is going to come back…he is going to beat both of us and who knows what is going to happen to you…you idiot…you should have never come here. I-it's exactly what he wanted."

More and more tears fell as Ed felt his sanity falter, what was the point in any of this? What was the point in both he and Mustang getting their asses handed to them? What the hell was the point in having to endure anymore violation, shame and pain?

Ed shifted a bit as he tried to grab the top of his shirt to wipe away more tears, he cried out as unexpected pain meet his movement. Everything from his waist down hurt, places where no human being should have to hurt. Ed writhed in pain as it only got worse, suddenly he could not feel his own breath, nor anything around him. All Ed could feel now were hands, rough, inpatient and malicious hands pulling at every article of clothing he possessed. He opened his mouth to scream but only managed a drawn out sob as Sins whispers filled his head. "Please stop. Just fucking stop! Kill me damnit! Get off of me, stop touching me…please just kill me…please…"

Mustang jolted awake at the first sob that was heard, he looked down to see Ed's eyes staring straight up at the ceiling, the golden orbs were glazed over and only one thing was evident in them- pain. "Fullmetal…Edward…are you ok?" The man reframed from touching Ed as he shifted carefully to a sitting position.

"Please just kill me…just kill me…"

"Edward..."

 _SLAM_.

Mustang did not flinch as the slam of a door erupted across the dim basement setting, Ed however did, "Fullmetal, are you alright? You just had a panic attack-"

"Shut up."

Roy was taken aback by the suddenly stern and focused teen, despite the shock ,he did listen and managed to help the struggling alchemist sit up beside him against the concrete wall. When Roy looked up to glare at Sin his stomach suddenly felt uneasy. Something was off, something about the mans eyes seemed deranged and unfocused, almost like the man didn't even realize where he was.

"I knew I shouldn't have just thrown my precious gift in here with filth like you." Sin snarled as began unlocking the iron barred gate. "You think just because you managed to ruin my career you can sleep around with my toys too?"

Mustang felt sick now, this man only saw Ed as an item that had to be maintained. He grit his teeth as he strengthened his glare towards the deranged man, "I suggest you don't get near him."

The usual smirk Sin wore was nowhere to be seen, his whole being radiated anger as he stalked towards the two injured and defenseless alchemists. Without any word he stood over the two and stared until his hatred suddenly snapped into an even deadlier look. His eyes narrowed in a new found determination and sickness as he simply went back to the gate and closed it once more. Mustang grew tired after only a minute of the man simply staring at him and Ed whom was only staring at the ground in a shaky trance.

"What the hell do you want Sin?! You didn't just come down here to attempt to intimidate me, did you?"

A massive smirk played across the ill looking man as he crossed his arms, "I suppose I have my _own_ type of entertainment now, hm? Alright Colonel Mustang I shall make you a deal. I was planning on punishing my little golden boy but if you can mange my challenge then I will let him off the hook for today."

Mustang was hesitant, was this grease ball of a traitor really going to keep his word? It was worth a shot, especially for Edwards sake. "….Very well. What is this challenge?"

"Its quite simple! All you have to do is break your fingers." The smirk on Sins face grew as Ed finally showed a reaction, he craved that shocked and fearful look. "What will it be flame?"

Ed looked over at his commanding officer, his secret comfort and father figure, "you don't have to do this…I can take any beating and-"

Sin frowned, " _Edward_."

Ed's golden eyes quickly snapped back into their dulled and unwavering attention to the floor, his whole frame shook as he quickly apologized.

"Not enough, you know how this works, this challenge is off if you cannot even manage to remember the simple instructions I gave you upon arriving here."

Ed wasted no time in scrambling to get on his hand and knees as Sin watched in sick fascination behind the iron bars. "I am deeply sorry…"

Sins grin faltered as Ed hesitantly cut the sentence off, " ** _Edward_**."

"I am deeply sorry master."

A full smile erupted on the aging mans face, yellowed teeth shown as he took in all the satisfaction of his prey bowing to him. "Very good, now about this challenge-"

 _SNAP_

Mustang glared at sin as he mercilessly broke each of his fingers one by one, the sickening pops and snaps seemed to echo in the barren, open room around them. The pain was excruciating and Roy could not help his shaking hands as he finished, but he kept all self-control focused on his unwavering glare.

Sin tried to hide his surprise but instead growled, "Edward, make sure each finger is broken."

"I-I ca-"

"Edward." Venom rose in his voice as Ed struggled to find the courage to look at Mustang. This was evident as Roy took a shaky breath, "Fullmetal, its ok, you can't hurt them further. I made sure to break them all, just….just do what he says for now, alright?" Roy hated that he had to play along with this sicko but at the same time he realized that in order to ensure Ed's safety for atleast today then it was worth it.

Nothing was said between the two as Mustang held back any reaction while Ed bent all of his fingers painfully. "T-they are broken."

"Very well."

The two alchemists were relieved as sin poured a bottle of water into a small bowl and tossed it mindlessly through the gate, half of the precious liquid spilled out as it landed on the dirty concrete floor beneath them. He left without any other word.

Ed quickly looked at Mustangs hands as the flame alchemist did his best to contain his pain, "shit…this is bad, I-I don't know how to treat this- here let me get some of this water and grab the rag he threw in here yesterday."

Mustangs anger boiled as he saw the teen cringe as he carefully maneuvered the short difference in obvious pain, Ed pretended that he didn't see Mustangs sad gaze as he struggled.

 _"_ _I-I don't know what this water is even going to do."_ Ed gasped as tears uncontrollably gathered in his eyes as he stared at Mustangs broken hands. _"Its all we have."_ Gasp. _"I cant help."_ Gasp. " _My fault."_

"Fullmetal."

 _"_ _I'm so sorry…I can't help…I caused this…I'm so sorry…"_

"Ed!"

Shrunken golden orbs finally rolled back into the distressed boys head as his body crumbled, his head painfully smacking the concrete below and splitting his lip. Mustang stared unbelievably at the now passed out Edward Elric, he sighed as he folded the stained rag and dabbed away the blood running down Edwards chin then carefully placed it under the boys head.

Taking his thinner military jacket off Mustang pulled and ripped painfully, trying to use his teeth and knees with slow success in tearing the fabric. It hurt a hell of a lot, sure, but the man didn't care; especially if it gave Ed one free day from the torment. As Roy used his teeth to carefully wrap his hands in a secure fashion he couldn't help but feel sick, he had watched Ed crumble to this sick mans feet. The same man that had raped and beaten the kid to a lifeless shell at one point. Roy had decided not to ask Ed about the past 24 hours with him not being here to comfort the child, he would leave that up to the well trained psychiatrist that he would force Edward to go to after this ordeal.

Mustang nervously thought out loud as he tried to take his mind away from the pain. "We have to get out of here…there's no way we can survive, and I don't think Sin is even sane enough to understand our basic needs here. We will both die of infection at this rate…and Ed…I might have singed the wound closed but that doesn't mean its not going to get infected…it probably already is."

Mustang suddenly felt a new wave of nausea wash through him as he felt the boys head, he was burning up. "Damnit! Why didn't I think of this shit sooner?" Roy felt very uneasy about the kids unsteady breathing as well. "Fullmetal….Edward…" Roy understood that it had only been about 15 minutes since the kid completely freaked out and passed out but still…this was not right and he felt it.

After numerous calls Mustang, out of desperation, poured what little water they had left in the bowel onto Ed's face- no reaction. He checked the boys pulse only to find a very unsteady beat. "Shit." Why did it surprise him? Ed had gotten stabbed- not to mention the severe bruising and undoubtable internal damage from his broken ribs being jostled since his arrival.

"I have no choice….SIN! Get down here! He is dying!"

Sure enough, in ran Sin with what seemed to be an annoyed look of slight concern. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that he definitely has an infection, he's got a fever and his pulse is unsteady. If you keep this up he's going to be dead, he needs help. Ill stay if you just take him somewhere. You wanted me after all, right? That is why you targeted him and now you have no worries about baiting me-"

Sin quickly shut the iron barred gate once more not even bothering to lock it, he said nothing as he anxiously left the basement.

Roy was infuriated, "What the hell?!" He stopped short as he saw the gate slightly ajar and made quick work of getting Ed on his shoulders, Roys face was pale as the pain travelled through his body from the radiating hell of his broken fingers. He then realized why Sin had such a sudden idiotic "challenge", it was so Roy could not snap his fingers to create the friction he needed if the opportunity rose and he got his gloves somehow. "Smart bastard…"

Nothing mattered as Roy passed through the gate, however, as soon as he heard a click he quickly laid Ed on the dingy mattress and quietly shut the gate to ensure that it looked locked and unbothered. It was their only chance of getting out at this point.

Mustang simply glared as he sat about eight feet away from the cells entrance against the wall, Ed close to him as he simply sat beside the mattress that held the sleeping boy. He was taken aback as Sin quietly passed him without sparing a glance towards the two, he made quick work of flipping on yet another light which illuminated a small square of space. The area was cleaned out and sat in the off corner in front of their cell, an oversized rug covered the concrete floor. Sin crouched down and yanked the rug away, Mustang held back a gasp from the sight.

...

 _A human transmutation circle, a completed, carefully crafted, circle._

...

"What the hell is the meaning of this?!" Mustang was at a loss for words as Sin turned.

"I have been waiting for this Colonel Mustang. The day you are forced to watch one of your most precious things in the world mix with one of the most evil."

Terror, rage and unfiltered hatred ran through Roy's veins as the man pulled at the iron barred gate and stood smirking. "You honestly think I am going to let you near him? Fuck you, there is no way in hell I'm going to let you."

Sin sighed and rolled his eyes, as if he were slightly annoyed over some trivial matter, as if he wasn't about to commit alchemy's biggest taboo and ruin his and others lives. "I'll give you one chance, take you down and chain you to these bars to watch me and this little spark of light finally come together- I've been craving it you know. Ever since I broke him."

"Shut up!" Mustang got up, infuriated, he had nothing what so ever- that was until he remembered. He reached down his military boot and pulled out a pocket knife, he had hated the thing but upon Hawkeyes request he kept it there at all times.

Sin chuckled as Mustang quickly unwrapped his already swelling hand and painfully clutched the knife with everything he had. "You are not touching him ever again you bastard! Burn in hell!" Roy charged with unexpected speed, Sin threw a punch but missed- Roy however did not. The knife made contact with the mans forearm, cutting the main artery slightly.

That was the last thing Roy remembered before he saw a red glow and felt pain, Sin kicked the unconscious colonel as he dragged him to the bars and sat him against them, he took the chains and wrapped them tightly twice, he melted the ends together making it impossible to get out without alchemy. As blood ran heavily down his arm Sin calmly turned back towards his work. "Now…"

When Roy awoke he was petrified as candles were lit all around- the only light that gave a dull sight to the man as he looked up to see Edward lying right in the middle of the circle. Gashes and bruises littered his entire body and his ankle looked mangled up. Not to mention that now half the circle that used to be drawn with white chalk was now lathered in crimson- no doubt Edwards.

Roy looked over to see Sin, he felt his stomach drop even more as the man dug into his arm once more with a knife and let his own blood drip into an already half-filled bowl. "I see your awake." Sin stated as he sparred Roy a glance, "you managed to help me a bit on getting my own blood for the circle- so kind of you."

"You can't do this…this is not going to work the way you are planning."

"Oh?"

"It won't, damnit! This is not some science experiment! That fucking kid has already done this, he lost an arm and a leg- his brothers whole goddamn body! What makes you think that you are going to be able to carry out what ever sick plan you have in mind when you don't have anything worthy to sacrifice?"

"I have you, flame! You are breathing, whole, clearly powerful- so you are the sacrifice." Sin almost seemed bored as he passed Mustang with the bowel and set to work on quickly filling in the other half of the circle with his own blood.

Mustang grit his teeth, he could feel his pulse quickening as Ed stirred, "what…the hell?"

Ed looked over from his spot on the floor weakly, his stare going directly towards Roy. "Mustang? Where the hell are…we…" Ed finally looked around more, the more of the surrounding area he took in the more he shook and attempted to get up.

"Fret not my precious little golden boy, soon you and I will be standing at the gate together and once we pass you will never be able to leave me- we will be joined. Your pathetic colonel will be dead as a sacrifice and you will be forced to be apart of all my sins. Ohhh, what will we do first my little alchemist? Destroy Alphonse? Rape Winry? Oh I know… we can pay a visit to your mothers grave, maybe I can help you become part of her too!"

Sin had closed in on Ed at this point, his blood-stained hands caressed the boys face as he watched in manic fascination. Ed's eyes were a bright molten gold now, they were massive, likely from the drug that Sin had secretly administered before Mustang could even think about regaining consciousness. Mustang finally dry heaved as Sin closed in on Ed, forcing the already hyperventilating Kid into a kiss.

"Stop it! Goddamnit just fucking stop it! Take me! I'm the one you want!" Roy was horrified as he watched Ed simply stare ahead, not attempting to calm down at all as Sin kept caressing the side of his face.

Sin pulled away from a hysterical Edward as he smirked, "come on now Mustang, maybe in your youth you were dashing but I think we both remember my tastes, hm?"

Roy pulled at the chains with everything he had over and over until he was sure he had fractured some ribs, there was no getting out as he watched in unfiltered rage and horror as Sin decided to violate the boy even further before he made him suffer even more.

Sin pulled at Ed's shirt as he smelled the boy's golden hair, "It's a shame I couldn't get you a little more cleaned up. Oh well, we can work on that after the main event, hm? I will say I am going to miss having all of you to _myself_ , what if I took you right here? Right in front of your idol and friend? Would you scream more? Beg? Or would you moan like the little sick fuck you really are? OH! Maybe he could join too, after all we should celebrate what is about to happen! "

Roy dry heaved once more as Sin reached down the now hysterically crying Edward's pants, "Please…just fucking activate the circle, please…please master I promise I will never try to run anymore. Ill be joined with you and I will never try to get us killed I…I just can't…"

Sins smile grew as he pulled his hands away and slapped the boy mercilessly across the face, "I know you wont run- you have enjoyed all our little games and fun. If anything, you should thank me right here in front of your commanding officer. Thank me for giving you this opportunity, and tell him how much you enjoyed it when I took whatever childhood you had left from you and just left you in pain!."

Ed cried even more as he spouted whatever sick thing Sin told him to, Mustang felt tears streaming down his own face as he himself screamed to deafen the corruption at play. Part of him wanted to believe that him screaming was his way of helping to protect what little shred of his subordinates self-perceived dignity the boy felt he had left- if at all. But in the end it was just Roy's way of escaping the horrors he was helplessly watching.

Sin frowned as the two screamed, "ENOUGH!"

Setting his hands on the circle the entire room lit up in a bright glow, blinding even Mustang who was seated several feet away.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Should be coming up with the next one relatively soon but no promises! Reviews are welcomed! I would like to see what people like and dislike about the story or way I write so I can improve it! Thank you~


	11. Blood

**This is super late -,- thank you all for being so patient! Hope you enjoy~**

Havoc nervously tapped the wheel of the jeep as he glanced in the rear view mirror and saw the somber bunch of men he had to pick up only minutes ago. Havoc had gotten the luxury of having to drive for hundreds of miles with an overly worried Riza Hawkeye ranting about how ignorant the colonel was. To make matters worse, as soon as he arrived everyone seemed to be in such a bad mood, he supposed it was just the uncertainty in the air.

As the jeep pulled in to a rather nice hotel parking lot, Havoc looked back at the three worse for wear men sitting in the back seat, "my orders were to let you rest here, Breda and the others are on their way now and once they arrive we will take care of the rest." He held his breath as he let the information sink in to the other men.

"Yea right, Roy drugged me! If I don't go I will never hear the end of how he was "one step ahead" of me or something. Nope! I have to come." Crossing his arms Hughes glared at Havoc as he opened the jeep door and gathered with everyone else to the trunk of the beaten up ride, they had crammed the vehicle with all sorts of medical equipment and food the men had left.

Havoc sighed and gave Hughes a quick look over, he noticed the man was slurring slightly and had a rather bad gash that was bleeding through its bandages. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop him though, and while rank did not matter on this unofficial, yet official, mission he still felt he could not simply boss the man to death, so he gave in, "we do have one extra seat…"

Hughes nodded triumphantly, "I'm coming then."

Havoc looked over at Riza for support in this decision, she gave no indicators at all with worry still evident in her features. She was rather hurt that the colonel gave her little to no information in the past several days, all she knew was both him and Ed were likely trapped with a malicious man.

With no other conversation needed the three tired adults helped Doctor Ty and Armstrong pack their things into the luxurious hotel. "Please give Colonel Mustang my warmest regards." Armstrong said, almost in shame. He had felt guilty that both he and doctor Ty had let the injured colonel get away and wanted only the best for the man.

Hughes smiled, his exhausted green eyes gave a hopeful glint as he shook hands with the massive man, "you have my word Armstrong! Ill tell them that I after I kick his ass for being so stupid."

Doctor Ty took this moment to step in as the three soldiers turned to leave out of the lobby, "Lieutenant Hawkeye."

Hawkeye turned, worry still clear across her face. Doctor Ty mentally cursed the flame alchemist for making such a lady worry, "he knew what he was doing my girl, those two are very stubborn and work well together. I am sure everything will be just fine, here is some medical supplies I packed up- just in case the two need immediate care. Stay focused Riza…you will find him." The old doctor smiled warmly as Hawkeye seemed to believe him, "yes sir, thank you."

With that, the small team left, Armstrong and Doctor Ty then went to their room where they set up a makeshift hospital room in preparation for the two likely injured patients they would soon be getting. Mustang had been smart enough to leave any detached medical equipment and medications behind for the doctor in the event he needed to help Hughes.

"Do you truly believe he will be alright?" Questioned Armstrong.

The doctor sighed, "I do…however I know how careless these two are and I have had several unfortunate patients that got the rare and unfortunate luck of fighting Sin. Those patients were some of the most gruesome cases I have had in my whole career…so I suppose we just hope and wait."

* * *

Hughes sighed as he sat in the back of the military jeep, he had been shoved right in the middle of a snoring Breda and restless Fuery. Taking a steady breath, he focused his emerald eyes on the bored expression of Havoc in the rear- view mirror, "how do you even know where to go?! We are in the middle of nowhere!"

Riza took this opportunity to untuck a small device from her arm, "the colonel didn't leave us with a complete hopeless cause."

That's when Hughes remembered, "that's right! He has that chip in him! Egh, how could I forget? That maniac reopened his wound and preformed that little operation in front of me! Are we close?"

"We are."

Hughes looked over apologetically to the worried blonde woman in front of him. "It'll be ok…looks like the place will be deserted! Won't be much to hide- or have to hide for that matter. Roy knew what he was doing…I'm sure of it." Even Maes didn't completely trust his own voice- and yet he stared confidently at a now smiling Riza, a new determination in her eyes as Havoc slowed in front of what seemed like a small shack.

"Are you sure these coordinates are right?" Breda asked, obviously unimpressed with the sorry sight of the beaten down shack only feet away from their jeep.

"No, this is it…somethings wrong though."

All four men looked at Riza as she quickly unclipped her seatbelt and turned to Fuery, "Phone Falman at the hotel- make sure he informs Doctor Ty to be prepared."

Fuery nodded as he set to work on organizing a small plot of ground for all of his technical equipment.

"Breda, can you stay with Fuery and be our lookout?" Hawkeyes voice left no room for much argument, so he simply nodded.

Hughes carefully followed behind Havoc as Hawkeye lead the nervous pair through the shacks door, "Jeez….what a mess. No doubt someone has been living here recently. What is that horrible smell?!"

Havoc flicked his cigarette as he reinserted the smoking tobacco back into his mouth, he purposely breathed in the strong odor of his own cigarette smoke as the three of them split up.

Hughes sighed as he carelessly walked through the tiny excuse of a kitchen and back into the main area where the other two somber soldiers stood. "Nothing, huh?" Hughes looked down in defeat only to realize something that made him thankful he worked in investigating crime scenes such as this. "Seems kind of weird that Sin would have such a classy rug in this filth."

The other two quickly caught on as the three peeled back the massive rug, sure enough there was a latch. "Well what do you know! Sin's not that smart afterall, this is amateur stuff. I'm definitely going down first, gatta give Mustang a piece of my mind for not letting me join the party."

Both Havoc and Hawkeye knew that Hughes's babbling was a sign of his nervous worry to get to his best friend and Edward to make sure they were safe.

Havoc could not help but feel a chill run down his spine as they opened the heavy latch, the stench from earlier intensified so much that he decided to simply put his cigarette out, not wanting to have to breathe in anymore of this dreaded air than he had to.

"I will stay up here, I want to be sure I catch Sin if he tries to escape." Hawkeye said, a glint in her eye as she cocked her gun and looked as alert as ever, she knew Sins ways all too well. He was predictable when it came to fighting in these situations. When the going got tough he would almost always bolt mid fight, Hawkeye was more than prepared to shoot him.

Hughes nodded as he descended down the narrow wooden staircase, he let Havoc catch up and ready his weapons as the two approached a single door.

Looking behind him, Hughes counted down with his fingers as the two readied themselves to what they expected to be an unforgiving fight. As soon as Hughes slammed the door open however, everything was still except a struggling Colonel Mustang that was chained to what appeared to be an actual holding cell.

"Roy!" Hughes ran blindly towards his friend not even sparing a glance at the horror that was right in front of the man. It was far too dark to see much as it seemed all the lights in the dank smelling room were broken, Havoc switched a flashlight on and crouched down with Hughes beside his commanding officer.

"Get off me! Damnit, get away! Bastard!"

"Hey! Hey….Roy its Maes Hughes- your friend? We finally got here thanks to the tracking chip you have." Hughes made quick work at setting the man free, thankfully having the correct heavy- duty tools to split the chains, only for Mustang to rush past him.

"Dear God….."

"Hm?" Havoc shined his flashlight to what Hughes was staring horrifically at, what Mustang had ran to.

Havoc was mortified as his widened eyes took in the massive transmutation circle in front of them, he could not stop staring at the small shaking child covered in blood that now rested in Mustangs shaking arms. Blood, tissue, veins, limbs, everything that made up a human body lay around the two hysterical beings in the middle of the transmutation.

"Roy….what the hell happened here? Where is Sin?" Hughes tried softly.

A soft muffled sob only came from the crumbling flame alchemist, "we have to get away from here."

Ed stirred a bit at that as he grabbed hold to the Colonels shirt, Hughes concern grew as he saw how dilated the kid's eyes were. "He's going to eat us too! Truth…he's going to get us and tear us apart!" Ed broke away from the Colonels arms and landed in a heap of veins and tissue, an ear-piercing scream erupted from the teens mouth as he scooted towards the nearest wall and began clawing at his own arms.

Hughes and Havoc shared an equally distraught glance as they helped the silenced Roy Mustang up, he refused to let them near Ed as he stalked towards the now hyperventilating boy. He carefully tried to clean some of Sins tissue off the boys shoulder, "Edward, we have to go, now."

"N-no! Idiot, Sin will catch us- he will hurt us even more! I rather die here!" Tears streamed down Ed's paling face as his breathing hitched. Before Mustang could even think of anything the boy slumped forward, Roy held his hand out catching the boy by his chest and steadying him against the wall.

After checking Eds pulse, Roy ignored any and all pain from his broken fingers and other serious injuries and managed to hold Ed in his arms, close and safe as he stood with the unconscious boy. He quickly walked out of the room, not once looking back at the indescribable scene. Roy was numb, no amount of pain from his broken fingers or his likely severe concussion were going to stop him from getting Ed out.

Hughes willed Havoc to continue with Mustang, to aid the man in climbing up the damned stairs. He had to force himself to look further into what was undoubtedly where Sin died. The dismembered body in front of him had very small clues that lead Hughes to believe that it was in fact the damned pedophile that had caused this whole mess.

Emerald eyes hardened as Hughes took in the circle around him, he didn't have to know a lot about alchemy to understand that what lay before him was in fact a human transmutation circle- the most forbidden act of alchemy, at his feet.

"What the hell happened here….."

* * *

Roy Mustang was a mess- no…he was more then just that, it sounded too simple to put his mood in such a commonly placed category. No, Roy was mortified even hours after his own rescue, he had not found the heart to mumble a single thing since he left the basement of that God Forsaken place. Neither had Fullmetal- but that was a whole different situation.

Mustang swung his feet over his bed to where he could, a bit painfully, sit up and be able to look over the bed that lay only a couple of feet away from his own. With the crammed hotel room bursting with medical supplies and equipment the two wounded soldiers along with a few guests and doctor Ty at times were able to fit.

It was about three in the morning now, the rescue had seemed to go without flaw from what Mustang gathered, and yet he still felt a massive pit in his stomach about the entire situation.

Who could blame him? The man had only hours ago witnessed a horrific human transmutation, one that would have combined the two people that had severely impacted his life for the good and bad. Thankfully, the transmutation had not done what Sin had intended for it to do, however there was still several troubling concepts about the entire ordeal that Roy himself couldn't understand.

"Looks like your focused pretty hard there Roy…wanna tell me what's wrong?"

He knew that voice, that level of concern and care could only come from a man that was supplied with years of friendship to the man, Hughes.

"Everything." Roy mumbled.

Shifting from his chair across the room Hughes carefully walked towards Roy and pulled up a tiny chair meant for the hotel rooms small work desk and placed it at Mustangs bedside. Hughes made sure to give his friend plenty of space as he sat quietly and waited for an explanation.

"What happened Roy?"

Mustangs breathing hitched, it was as if the question was prying into his mind and ripping out all the strands of the horrors that Roy himself could not understand.

"Sin…he raped Ed, beat him, completely broke him but that was not just out of spite for me. Sin had to break his spirit before the real plan took place… He wanted to join bodies with Ed so that one of my most hated enemies became a part of one of my small signs of hope for this world."

The tears came faster than Mustang had hoped, he secretly hoped the glint of the full moon through the blinds could not give Hughes enough vision to see his weakening façade.

The sounds of Edwards heart monitor filled the small silence as Mustang fought to catch his breath. "The whole plan was all building to that. Neither me or Fullmetal saw it coming. But its not just that…when you pass through the gate- when you commit any human transmutation, a price has to be paid from anyone involved in the transmutation. I think Sin thought I would be the sacrifice- but I wasn't in the circle and even if I was it doesn't work like that…everyone who passes the gate losses something.

Hughes looked over at Ed, suddenly feeling very ill as the kid's heart monitor beeped unsteadily. Ed]s health had been shit from the moment they got here and only seemed to be declining.

"I don't know what Ed gave up, but I'm sure it has something to do with why he won't wake up now."

And just like that, as if Truth itself opened the gate, Ed started to wake. Both men stumbled over, Hughes helped the injured Roy Mustang stand as Ed's golden eyes opened.

"Fullmetal?"

"Mustang? What- what the hell happened?!"

Hughes gently held a hand over Ed as he pressed a nearby button under Ed's medical bed, the button triggered a small amount of sedative and morphine every time it was pushed- while Ed had not officially awoke yet Doctor Ty had graciously set up the system just in case- considering Ed's history with freaking out as soon as he woke up.

"Truth…saw him again! I….I've never seen anyone's body get ripped up like that….he…Truth…he fucking ate Sin. Limb from limb…the only things left were bones and a few bits of flesh and organs…I…It was…I dunno…what if Sin made it though? What if- what if it was an illusion?! What if-"

Roy kept his face stern, "what about you? You have to give up something too, right? What did he take?!"

Ed's eyes teared up as he looked away, "He actually went easy on me his time…but he did take something away, no matter how much I tried to explain to him that it was not my fault."

"Edward…" Hughes tried.

"Somethings wrong with my head…the chemicals or just physical chemistry of it…not memory loss, but I can tell. Truth told me…that the gate demanded a price and physical components were in full stock."

Mustangs face contorted into an expression in which Hughes himself had never quite witnessed before. Pity, anxiety, anger, worry- all wrapped up into one facial expression. "…get some rest Fullmetal, we will figure it out."

As Mustang attempted to turn back to his bed, Ed caught hold of his oversized t-shirt sleeve, "do you still see it? The…well the way it all looked after…"

Mustang faced Ed once more, "of course….it was one of the worse things I have ever seen…there was nothing left of him."

Ed nodded, "…are you hurt?"

"Not as much as you are, don't worry, I've got plenty of morphine to hold me and my broken fingers over. I got off easy compared to you." While Mustang was lying about the full extent of his own injuries, it was painfully obvious that Fullmetal had definitely gotten the worse treatment. Mustang had ended up coming out with a moderate concussion, his broken fingers had been carefully gauze wrapped, his nose had been fractured and three of his ribs were in fact broken from where he tried to break out of the chains.

Edward however faced much more serious physical damage, doctor Ty had already stressed to Roy that as soon as they got to central they would have to access the damages from the horrific sexual abuse. Not to mention perform surgery on Edwards stab wound as there was internal damage done near Ed's vital organs. A lot of Edwards limbs and smaller bones had been fractured from the beatings and he also had a severe concussion which explained his slurring speech.

Mustang had been filled in on all the injuries of the boy, he was infuriated because he knew all too well that not only was the physical damage severe, but the mental hardship would be too.

"..can you stay?"

"Huh?" Mustang broke out of his trance as he looked at Ed in confusion.

"I keep getting nightmares, everything hurts, everything…I just want- you were there for most everything…you understand and I'm scared…" Edward refused to look up, he knew how vulnerable he looked. No arm, injured, slurring, drugged and crying- he hated it and part of what little spirit he had left wanted him to rebel- to insist he was fine and cuss everyone out. The words of that faint spirit died on his lips as he spared a glance towards Mustang, the man understood.

"Help me Hughes." Mustang rounded his own medical bed and began to nudge it awkwardly with his knees, urging it towards Edwards bed.

Hughes quickly joined as he pulled the bed over along with all the wires and machines attached. "You better both get back to sleeping before Doctor Ty gets in here and shines more lights in your eyes." Hughes chuckled a bit as the two strong willed males in front him quickly made haste in getting covered back up. The only thing separating the two now were their bed handrails on each side of them. Edward didn't seem to mind as long as Mustang was at arms length, he was soon fast asleep leaving Mustang staring at the ceiling and Hughes pulling his tiny chair to the one free side of Mustangs bed.

"Roy..what do you think he means by his mind?"

"I'm not sure…but I'm sure whatever it is will be one hell of a problem."

Hughes watched as his best friend slowly drifted uncontrollably into a dreamless sleep, he chuckled as he let go of the button under Mustangs bed. Quietly thanking Doctor Ty for putting sedatives on Mustangs bed as well.

The man quietly left the two to sleep as Hawkeye entered and took her turn in watching and worrying over the two.

As Hughes shut the door he was approached by Breda and Havoc, "any news?" Breda asked.

"They both woke up- not for long but enough to assure me they will be ok."

The two soldiers visibly relaxed, just as Hawkeye had when Hughes informed her as well.

"So…was that really a human transmutation circle?" Havoc questioned.

Hughes looked down the hall they were in and offered both men into his room, once the door was shut and locked Hughes finally sighed and stared at the two. "It was, apparently Sin tried to transmutate himself and Ed…I know more happened, but I didn't feel like I should pry right now. One thing I do know is that you guys need to help me make a legitimate report to hand in and somehow get these two at least a month or two on medical leave.

Havoc and Breda nodded confidently, "got it."

As the two set off for the likely grueling amount of paper work Hughes took a moment to place his head in his hands, "there is so much more to this already."


	12. Recovery

Hughes ran his shaking hands through his hair as he pleaded with his anxiety ridden best friend to lay back down. "Roy, I said I would keep you updated, they just said that Ed was experiencing distress when he woke up. You can't blame the kid, he was not even told he was being put under."

"I don't care Hughes! I want him in my sight at all times damnit!"

"He's fine…you have to calm down, they are going to sedate you again."

Mustang sighed in frustration as he collapsed back on the many pillows behind him, it had only been two days since both he and Ed were brought back to Central and put in this God forsaken hospital. Ed was put under as soon as he arrived at the hospital and put in the ICU under critical surveillance while Mustang was put on a lower level of the hospital to simply recover from some of his more major injuries. He had questioned Hughes about why he had to stay for three whole days in inpatient, his friend simply told him it was to ensure he got rest.

But Hughes had lied slightly, the colonel was actually being held for three days for psych evaluation, he was showing extreme signs of hostility, Hughes had tried fighting the doctors but it was no use. The man had to admit he was a bit scared for his friend, sure Mustang had his rage filled days but nothing like now, he was paranoid and would only ever ask about Ed. When Maes finally got the guts to ask the psychologist what the possible diagnosis was he was taken aback a bit.

"We believe Colonel Mustang may be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. I have had a couple of short sessions with him and it is quite obvious that certain things seem to trigger quite a violent reaction from him. Ive hypothesized that this is because he is experiencing a series of flashbacks from the incident."

It had been difficult news to take in for both Hughes and Hawkeye, the only two people allowed to know this. The more and more the two took their shifts with Roy though, the more it made sense. He was acting completely out of character. Mae's remembered how shaken and drained the colonel was when he returned from Ishval, but even times like that were not nearly as devastating as this it seemed.

No one could blame the man's anger or paranoia though, it had been bad news all around in just the short time they had spent at the hospital. No one had known how injured Ed was upon arrival, they all had gotten a pretty good idea it wasn't great but the reality of how severe it all was hit as soon as the teenager got a full diagnosis at the hospital. It ranged from many fractured bones to the boys nearly collapsed lung from his stab wound. In the short amount of time Ed had been there nothing had gone right, not to mention his mental lapses every now and then.

Where Roy was showing moderate symptoms of PTSD, Ed was slowly becoming the worse case of PTSD and anxiety the psychiatric unit staff had ever seen. So much so that Mustang had already been forced to sign papers to have Ed institutionalized directly after his discharge from the ICU. Ed hadn't really been conscious half the time he had been in the hospital but when he did finally drift back into reality it seemed he could never understand where he was.

Winry and Alphonse were the only ones he would allow in the room when he got too paranoid and started talking about Sin drugging him to hallucinate everything again. It had taken Alphonse a long time to accept everything he had been told, Winry was still in complete denial.

The two were horrified when everything was explained carefully, they had both cried as soon as Ed woke up the first time resulting in him having a massive episode and ripping out his I.V.s. After that incident Winry and Alphonse quickly realized they had to be calm and cautious at all times when Ed was awake, if only to ensure his tiny grasp of reality.

"Brother…please believe us, you are just hallucinating again! Sin is gone now, its really us! Alphonse and Winry…please…your scaring me brother." Al's armored hand hesitantly reached out to a ever paleing Ed whom had somehow pulled his I.V. out of his now bloodied arm and was hunched in the farthest corner of the hospital room shaking as he anxiously watched the approaching figures.

"Just stay back damnit! I- I can escape anytime I want so I suggest you just stay back!" Ed's eyes were glazed over- Winry saw the delusional state from a mile away as she stuck close to the exit of the room and slowly snuck out to get help.

Alphonse was well aware of her escape as he tried to coax his brother further. "You do not have your arm brother, you can't escape."

Ed smirked manically as he stood, his body quaking as violent tremors set off across his entire being- he was losing blood quickly now, Alphonse soul grew with fear as he saw his brothers bandages around his stomach start to dampen with crimson.

"You think I can't escape Sin? You better listen to me right now you bastard….I can escape anytime I want!" Ed sprung to the massive window only a few feet away from his spot in the corner.

Alphonse made quick time in nearing the dissociating teen but was soon stopped short as Ed broke the glass with ease using his metal arm joint meant to hold the now vacant auto mail arm. "I would not move Sin."

 _Meanwhile_ …

"Doctor Ty! Doctor Ty, please help. It's Ed- he has gotten worse, w-we were just out for a few minutes and he got out of his restraints and has already ripped his I.V. out. I-I….I'm sorry, you told me to watch him and now he is bleeding and scared…"

Doctor Ty set a faint comforting hand on Winry's shoulder as she let out a sob and brushed a stray tear away, "Don't worry my dear, It isn't your fault whatsoever, my team and I should have put him on a one to one or in the mental health clinical bay. Lets hurry, whos knows what other damage he could be causing." Doctor Ty was exahsted, but he had instisted upon his arrival back that he would personally see Ed through this tragedy himself.

"Get away from me Sin! G-get away! I am not afraid to jump and I know you couldn't stand that- so just let me go…let me go!" Ed's once golden orbs seemed to be tiny little pin pricks as his eyes widened even more. His hand was placed on the jagged broken glass bottem of the window, blood began to pool around his hand as he leaned more towards the window, Alphonse knew his brother could jump through the window at any given moment and being on the fourth floor he also knew his brother would likely die from the fall.

"Brother…please…I'll move, ok? I will- please don't jump!" Alphonse slowly backed away to the farthest wall from the door, maracuiously Ed let go of the bottem of the window and began to inch away from the broken opening.

"Edward! Y-you broke the window?!" Winry's outburst seemed to throw Ed right back to where he was before, except now Al was sure that if the teen leaned anymore outside the window he would surly slip and fall.

"Wow! Edward…try to just take a few breaths, ok? What are you seeing? Talk to me…talk through it." Doctor Ty coaxed as he inched further inside the doorway, he gently pushed Winry out of sight and, without looking away from Ed, he whispered, "get Mustang immediately."

Winry was not an athlete, she wasn't a runner, sprinter- none of that. However, just that one time that one very specific day, she was sure she broke records as she barraled through the hallways and stairwells from her place on the fifth floor all the way to the first where she stumbled in on an arguing Maes Hughes and Colonel Mustang.

"Winry?"

She could feel herself getting weaker, her vision had spots in it now, when was the last time she had actually eaten? It had been days now, ever since Ed arrived she hadn't done much of anything except stay awake and by his side. "Ed's in trouble- needs you." With that she let herself fall, Hughes barely caught her as she fell forward.

"Hey! Winry? She fainted…jeez Roy, shes so pale, I know she and Al have been watching over Edward but who the hell is watching over the three of them? This isn't healthy for a kid…." As Maes quited down from his babbling and got the nearest medical team to get Winry her own room for vitals and fluids, he kept going over what she said only a few minutes prior. "I think you need to go see Ed right now." Hughes said as he walked back into the colonels room.

"Roy?" Hughes smirked as he turned on his heel and speed to the nearest stairwell, he figured Mustang wouldn't wait up for him, the wheel chair was close enough for the man to access and the elevator was just outside his room, it was probably for the best he left when he did.

Emrald eyes darted around the final stairwell as Hughes heard an ear piercing cry erupt from the other side of the wall he was currently standing behind, he made sure atleast one throwing dagger was carefully placed in between his fingers as he cautiously rounded the corner and stealithly made his way to the sound. The only hospital room that was opened in the hall was the ground zero of all hell being broke loose throughout the entirety of the hospital. There were nurses on ethier sides of the door making their way down the hallways and assuring the other patients that everything was ok.

That's when it clicked in the investegators mind, "Ed." Of course it was Ed, he really needed to get some damn sleep if he couldn't figure out that much. Hughes ran towards the door but was stopped short by Dr. Ty who seemed to be caught up in a cold sweat, a suit of trembling armor stayed close to the doctor as the two kept safe distance from the door.

"Whats happening? Is Ed ok?"

Dr. Ty shook his head, "I should have requested him to the mental health floor, I-I thought he was relatively stable enough to stay on this unit for a few more days. I hope Roy can talk some sense into him."

Hughes nodded, oddly satisfied with the situation, he knew the two were closer then ever now so if anyone could help the kid thrugh this episode it was Roy.

"Fullmetal."

"…Mustang?"

Roy carefully rolled through Ed's hospital room door in his wheelchair, he smirked which seemed to put Ed at ease as his grip on the broken window glass visablly eased.

"So you broke the window…"

"Sin was here, Roy."

Mustang frowned, "No Ed…he was not. Hes…hes dead remember? We both saw his body." The colonels nerves were not calmed as Ed stood faithfully beside the hospital window, his eyes now shimmering with unshead tears.

"No…"

"Ed…you know he is gone now…you know you can rest, please let yourself have that peace of mind atleast."

"No…no, no, no, he lied! It was not really him! Hes going to come back Mustang!"

Roy took a minute to let the statement sink in, he half way believed it but did not let on one bit that he was buying into it, it certainly would not help the current situation. "Do you trust me?"

The fog in Ed's eyes seemed to clear at that, "..yes."

"Ok…theres a safe place I know of, its somewhere we can both hide. You have to follow me and doctor Ty though, ok?"

Ed was hesitant, Roy couldn't blame him considering the situation.

"W-what if this is all fake?" Ed said aloud to himself.

"It's not Ed…I swear I wouldn't lie to you- please." Roy wheeled himself forward, his pulse quickening as he watched Ed subconsciously lean more towards the broken window. He knew all it took was a slip and Ed would fall to his death.

Ed took a shaky breath, he was shaking, but then again, so was Roy. He seemed real enough, but maybe everything was just too real right now. "Promise?"

Mustang smiled a bit, it was strange but in that moment the Fullmetal alchemist actually sounded like what he was supposed to be- a kid. "I promise."

With that simple phrase Ed fell forward, away from the window, Roy was not quick enough to catch the boy as he crashed to the hospital floor with a sickening thud.

"I-I think he fainted!" Roy assured the hidden party behind him, Doctor Ty quickly entered the room and, with the help of Hughes, ushered the uncooperating teens body onto a mobile hospital bed.

Doctor Ty cleared his throat as he turned to Mustang, "I suppose now is a better time than any…I think it would benfit both you and Fullmetal to be evalutated and instutionalized. I will make sure it's the best mental facility I can find but..you both are showing considerable signs of PTSD and while I think you could just attend outpatient therapy…I don't think Ed can be without you right now."

Mustang nodded, "my thoughts exactly. Its not ideal, but right now…I think we could both use a break." The colonels fists clenched as he said this, it was humiliating, demeaning but he knew it was for the best right now.

Hughes heart dropped as he overheard his friend, a sense of pride and terror filled his being. His best friend was making the best possible choice, they both needed help and it was true, Ed would likley collapse into another episode of insanity without Roy. Even so, hearing his friend admit the harsh reality seemed to put an uncomfrortable twist in the mans gut.

"Very well." Doctor Ty proclaimed, "We will get the two of you ready to transport soon enough, lets get you all to the holding bay. Usually the process is very lengthy but sense you are military personel it will be a lot quicker."

Roy nodded as he let himself be pushed out by Hughes, Doctor Ty stayed behind to hook Ed back to the appropriate, and mobile, machines he would need, he also called two nurses in to check on stitching's and rebandaging.

"You did the right thing, you know." Hughes tried.

"Yea… hopefully we aren't away for too long, never thought I would go to a mental facility."

Hughes smirked, "I didn't know you would ever go to one- this early atleast. I figured you had a couple of years before you cracked."

Roy let out a small laugh, "shut up." His small smile quickly flattened back out as Riza neared from the end of the hall.

"Sir." She saluted. Falman, Breta, Havoc and Fuery were all standing in appropriate order beside her as they each saluted accordingly.

"You all will be on paid leave for a while, I should return in a few weeks." Roy never once looked up as he glared at the ground, humiliation seemed to cloud over him as his shoulders slumped.

"Sir…may I ask where you are going?"

Of course Jean fucking Havoc would ask wouldn't he? Roy growled but accepted defeat, they would find out soon enough anyways. "Fullmetal and I will be attending an institution for evaluation and recovery, nothing more, nothing less."

"Oh! Like a psych ward?"

Riza could practically see the blood run to Mustangs head as he gripped his fists, "Havoc…"

"Uh! Sorry sir…I understand sir. I hope all goes well!"

Hughes took that cue to quickly stroll away with the enraged fire alchemist in toll. "You know he didn't mean anything by it, Roy."

He sighed, "I know, hes just an idiot….even so, it doesn't make this any less embarrassing."

Roy nearly fell forward as Hughes halted and suddenly appeared right in front of his face, "there is nothing to be embarrassed of. You aren't crazy, you just need extra help is all…when…Gracia went it really helped her just get her mind cleared."

That caught Roy's attention, "you sent her to one of those places?"

"No, not quite, she disappeared one night very early…I was terrified but right before I was about to issue a search party the hospital called and said she had checked herself in to the nearest mental hospital. She had a horrific postpartum depression episode after our precious Elisia was born- I thought she had honestly killed herself or something awful that night Roy…that's why I feel confident that you and Ed will get through this and see it through."

Roy took that bit of information in and smiled to himself, "You're right Hughes…we are going to be just fine."

For once things went just as Roy said they would- fine, the next several weeks were both challenging and very helpful to the two alchemist. They not only worked on the recent trauma but their past struggles as well.

Finally, a month later, the two found themselves sitting in the discharge room awaiting Hughes to arrive and sign the papers symbolizing their freedom.

"This is it Ed, how do you feel?"

Ed smirked, "like I'm ready to kick the worlds ass again, what about you colonel bastard? Ready to go sign allll those documents that have been piling up after all this time?"

Mustang visablly paled at that, "you know maybe I'm not ready…"

The two smiled as Hughes entered the room, he beamed as he held the papers up. "You guys sure you don't want to stay any longer?" Hughes was cut off as the two all but ran out of the small room and into the bright sunlight just outside the building.

Ed raised his arms and basked in the beauty of that cold morning, he smiled to himself as he ran to catch up with Hughes and Mustang, a overly excited Alphonse and smiling Winry now running towards him from the military car parked. He had been through hell, now Ed was going to cause it in the best way to better both himself and the world. "I'm going to be just fine."

* * *

 _ **Endings really aren't my deal guys- so I apologize if it seemed abrupt! In any case, I enjoyed writing this and I really hope it was just as enjoyable to read. I'll be posting a poll on my page to gauge what genre I should write next! So please check it out and vote! :) Thank you all~**_


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